
Copyiigtal^^- 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr 




EUGENE CHRISTIAN 



Suncooked Food 



A TREATISE ON HOW TO GET THE 

HIGHEST FORM OF HUMAN 

ENERGY FROM FOOD 



SIXTH EDITION 

Retitled and Rewritten to keep pace with progress 



BY 

EUGENE CHRISTIAN 



As the Building Material is, so the Structure must be 



CHRISTIAN'S school OF APPLIED FOOD CHEMISTRY 

7 EAST 41ST STREET. NEW YORK 

1909 



A 



t 






"% 



^'^ 



A"^^' 



COPYRIGHT 1909, BY 

EUGENE CHRISTIAN 



BALTIMORE, MD., U. S. A. 



©GLA;^5K86 



DEDICATION 

To the Women of America who shall Mother 

the Sons of Our Glorious Country^ 

I Most Affectionately Dedicate This Work 



TABLE OP CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Why This Book Was Written 9 

Why This Book Was Reweitten 12 

Instinct vs. Custom 21 

Cooking 29 

Chemical Changes that Occur in Cooking 35 

Cooked Food for Animals 40 

" Raw " Foods 41 

Why Suncooked Foods 45 

Selection and Peeparation of Foods 50 

Preparation of Suncooked Foods 56 

Food Combinations 58 

The Treating Habit 61 

The Emancipation of Woman 67 

Applied Food Chemistey 73 

Why is Disease 77 

The Function of Food 80 

The Stone the Builders Rejected 82 

Mastication 87 

Fletcherism 92 

Decay of the Teeth 101 

Caries 101 

Pyorrhea Alveolaris 101 

Prevention of Riggs' Disease 104 

The Psychology of Nutbition 107 

Some Revelations of the X-Ray 112 

The Chemical Substances of Foods 116 

Carbohydrates 116 

Starch 119 

Fats and Oils 125 

Proteids 128 

Food Salts 133 

Water 135 



b TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Chemistry of Digestion 138 

Digestion in the Stomach 141 

Intestinal Digestion 148 

Bile , 148 

Pancreatic Juice 149 

Intestinal Juices 152 

The Secretion of Digestive Juices 152 

Abnormal Processes in Digestion 158 

Mechanics of Digestion 166 

Metabolism 172 

Metabolism of Carbohydrates 176 

Metabolism of Fat 181 

Metabolism of Proteids 184 

The Vieno System of Food Measurement 192 

Explanation of the Vieno System 195 

Vieno Tables 203 

Old and New Dietary Standards 211 

True Food Requirements 218 

Nature's Food Scales 224 

Flesh Foods 228 

Animal Fats 239 

Cold Storage of Meat 240 

Contagious Diseases and Animal Food 242 

Fish 244 

Poultry 246 

Non-Flesh Foods of Animal Origin 252 

Eggs 254 

Milk 257 

The Adulteration of Milk 262 

Cheese, Butter and Oleomargarine 265 

Foods Derived from Plants 270 

Cereals 270 

Wheat 273 

Rye 274 

Barley 274 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 7 

PAGE 

Foods Derived from Plants — Cereals. — Continued 

Oats 275 

Corn 276 

Rice 276 

Nuts 279 

Pine Nuts 281 

The Pecan ' 283 

The Almond 284 

White Walnuts 284 

Filberts 285 

Chestnuts 285 

Cocoanut 285 

Leaves, Roots and Tubers 287 

Legumes 291 

Fruits 292 

Sugars 300 

Beet Sugar 300 

Glucose 303 

Confections 305 

Honey 306 

Vegetable Oils 308 

Drugs 312 

Narcotics 316 

Alcohols 328 

Mineral Poisons 335 

Purgatives and Cathartics 338 

Condiments 342 

Drugging Foods 346 

Shall We Nationalize the Doctor? 350 



WHY THIS BOOK WAS WEITTEN 

Some years ago I became so impaired in 
health as to almost totally disqualify me for 
the performance of my daily work. A study 
of my condition convinced me that it was 
caused mainly, if not wholly, by incorrect 
habits in eating. This caused me to enter 
into a very careful and studied series of per- 
sonal experiments with various forms of 
diet. At first these experiments were con- 
fined entirely to cooked foods, because at 
that time I accepted implicitly the common 
theory that foods could be predigested and 
improved by heat. Necessity had not re- 
quired me to think otherwise. Failing ut- 
terly to regain my health, or even improve 
my condition upon a diet of cooked foods, 
my attention was turned toward natural 
food, that is, food in its uncooked or elemen- 
tary state. Less than a year of study and 
experimenting with this system of feeding 



10 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

resulted in complete recovery from all diges- 
tive disorders, and my restoration to perfect 
health. The results of my experiments led 
to an investigation of the subject from 
a purely scientific viewpoint. Many people, 
suffering from various stomach and intes- 
tinal disorders, submitted to a trial of my 
theory, concerning their habits of eating and 
drinking, with the result that in every in- 
stance health, strength and vitality came to 
those who followed my suggestions. 

In order to bring this theory more con- 
spicuously before the public, Mrs. Christian 
and myself gave, to a large number of in- 
vited guests, a seven-course dinner or ban- 
quet of uncooked foods. This banquet re- 
ceived much attention by the New York 
press, and was widely commented on 
throughout this country and abroad. The 
flood of inquiries concerning the use of un- 
cooked foods, which followed this publicity, 
gave me a substantial hint of the great inter- 
est the public is taking in the question of 
natural dietetics. 



WHY THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN 11 

A second elementary food banquet spread 
a few months later was given still wider 
publicity, and brought forth inquiries in 
such volume that it became impossible to 
answer them. Therefore, as a labor-saving 
method of making reply, and in order to 
place intelligently before the public the re- 
sults of my work and experiments, I decided 
to incorporate them in pamphlet form. But 
it was soon discovered that this was in- 
adequate, and the first edition of '' Un- 
cooked Foods '' was the result. 

Eugene Christian. 

January, 1904. 



WHY THIS BOOK WAS REWRITTEN 

Five years have passed since the first edi- 
tion of '^ Uncooked Foods " appeared from 
the press. The work has passed through 
several editions and many thousand copies 
have been distributed throughout the Eng- 
lish-speaking world. The book has been 
severely criticised and generously praised. 
The London Mail declared it to be a hundred 
years ahead of its time, while some doctors 
said it was the vaporings of a diseased 
imagination. However, the demand for the 
book constantly increased. 

When I began my investigations in the 
field of food science, there was absolutely no 
information available for the searcher after 
dietetic truths, except some sentimental 
writings on vegetarianism and a few pedan- 
tic and uninterpretable government bulle- 
tins on calories and carbohydrates. The 
drug-doctor was supreme, and for anyone 



WHY THIS BOOK WAS REWRITTEN 13 

else to presume to possess knowledge or give 
advice concerning matters of health was 
considered prima facie evidence of quackery 
and charlatanism. And yet, on the great 
question of human nutrition, the most im- 
portant factor in the realm of human health, 
the drug-doctor knew but little. He did not 
claim to be an authority. He studied drugs, 
not foods. 

rive years ago, the person who pro- 
claimed that foods could be made remedial 
or curative, or that they were a potent factor 
in the cause of disease, was branded as a 
^* crank " and faddist. In defense of this 
theory at that time, I wrote the following 
lines: 

'^ If I mistake not, this decade will stand 
out in history as one of the most important 
since the world began. Its greatest achieve- 
ment will be that it has put into motion a 
current of thought on the subject of human 
food, that will do more for the human race 
in one generation than all the learning of the 
musty centuries that have gone into the 
past." 



14 SIJNCOOKED FOOD 

Half of the decade has passed. Let us 
weigh this prophecy on the scale of what 
has since occurred. 

Within the last five years the people of 
the nation have demanded that adulterating 
and poisoning foods shall cease, and Con- 
gress has passed the Pure Food Law and 
created a commission for its enforcement. 
True it is, that the law merely insists that 
things be what they are labeled— pure whis- 
key and pure bologna are still bologna and 
whiskey, and still unfit for human food, but 
the Pure Food Law has shown that the 
people can be awakened to a recognition of 
the fact that food as the constructive mate- 
rial of human life needs some consideration. 
The Pure Food Law is the first step in the 
right direction. It is the crystallization of 
the thought that the nation's greatest asset 
is in the health of the people, and that pure 
food is the greatest factor in health. 

The last five years have witnessed a great 
popular uprising against patent medicines. 
People who now indulge in their use are 



WHY THIS BOOK WAS REWKITTEN" 15 

pitied and looked upon as we look upon 
those who still believe in witchcraft, rabbits' 
feet or the horticultural influence of the 
phases of the moon. 

Five years ago vegetarianism was consid- 
ered only from its religious, moral or senti- 
mental aspects, and the average college pro- 
fessor would have flinched from being called 
a vegetarian as he would from being called 
an anarchist. To-day vegetarianism, or 
more properly, the question of the effects of 
flesh food, is being scientifically studied in 
many of the best colleges and universities in 
the land, with the result that flesh foods are 
now admitted by most up-to-date scientists 
to be not only unnecessary, but actually 
detrimental. 

A few years ago prohibition was looked 
upon as a proper thing for the employment 
of a few idle women and once-a-week 
preachers, but was considered unworthy of 
the support of the business interests of the 
country or the public press. The prohibi- 
tion territory of the United States was then 



16 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

confined to two or three '' crank '' States 
and a few scattered rural counties. To-day 
the map is reversed, and '' wet " territory is 
in the minority— a great prohibition move- 
ment has swept over the country — not be- 
cause a few women and preachers have ap- 
proved it, but because the American people 
are learning that intoxicating liquors are 
detrimental to health and prosperity. The 
same general wave of reform that passed the 
Pure Food Law is passing prohibition laws. 
Until a few years ago consumption was 
treated with drugs, and the patient zealously 
guarded from exposure; to-day he is sent 
into the open air and instructed to sleep in 
tents in winter and under the canopy of blue 
in summer. All drugs are eliminated, and 
exposure to out-door air, moderate exercise 
and pure food is the universal remedy — ^the 
remedy that cures. Nearly every State in 
the Union now has a society for the study 
and prevention of tuberculosis; and these 
societies are not controlled by the medical 
profession, but are philanthropic organiza- 



WHY THIS BOOK WAS REWRITTEN 17 

tions working to place this information 
within the grasp of everyone who will learn. 

Athletics and out-door life are becoming 
more popular each year, and in our more 
progressive cities the physical welfare of 
children is receiving much attention from 
municipal governments. 

A few years ago those who attempted to 
regain health by any means except medicine 
were considered ^' cranks," if not a little 
** off " mentally. They are still considered 
** cranks," but the word now means thought, 
progress and sometimes genius. 

Medical laws, to prevent the practice of 
drugless methods of healing, are still on the 
statute books, but they have been defeated 
in the Supreme Court of many States, and 
are exceedingly unpopular and rapidly tak- 
ing their place back with the blue laws of 
the days of sorcery and witchcraft. 

To-day natural methods of treating dis- 
ease, especially by diet, are being recognized 
by the more resourceful thinkers of the 
country. Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, chief of 



18 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

the Federal Bureau of Chemistry, a gradu- 
ate M. D., and the best-known chemist in 
this comitry, in a recent article, in the New 
York Medical Journal, said: '' There is an 
increasing belief in the medical profession, 
and this belief is founded on substantial evi- 
dence, that diet is an important factor in the 
production and cure of disease. ... A per- 
fectly healthy, well-nourished organ be- 
comes infected with any disease germ with 
great difficulty; in other words, it is self- 
protective. Granting this, therefore, it is 
self-evident that the food or diet must play 
a most important part in the prevention of 
disease.'' 

Dr. "Wiley closes this article with a most 
significant prophecy: '' I must also be al- 
lowed to say that the most preposterous 
dicta that I have ever heard concerning diet 
have come not from teachers of dietetics and 
cooking but from physicians themselves. In 
the progress of medical education, the near 
future, in my opinion, will see the professor- 
ship of dietetics in medical schools advanced 



WHY THIS BOOE: WAS KEWEITTEN 19 

to the same rank as that of medicine, and I 
am even going further than this and say, 
that the practice of medicine in the future 
will be largely a practice of dietetics." 

Indeed, so wonderful has been the prog- 
ress in the last five years that my original 
work on uncooked foods seems sadly out of 
date. 

It is to keep pace with progress, and to 
give to humanity the results of five years' 
study and practice in the field of applied 
food chemistry, that this volume has been re- 
written. If it gives to men more strength, 
more vitality, more endurance; if it gives 
them more health and less disease, more 
sjnupathy, more affection and more love ; if 
it gives them higher senses of mercy and 
justice, which fiow more freely from a foun- 
tain of robust health; if it contributes one 
degree to the elevation and freedom of 
woman ; if it gives her one hour more of pure 
air and sunshine; if it gives her new 
thoughts, new dreams, new hopes, with 
which she may endow the race to be: if it 



20 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

takes her from within four dark walls, hung 
with pots and strewn with bones, to gardens 
and fields where nature's bounteous store of 
purple and red is swung with prodigal hand 
in sunshine and autumn leaves ; if it brings 
her more youth and years, less sorrow and 
tears ; if this book, in the least, lightens the 
leaden load that has been laid upon woman 
by our civilization; if in all the world it 
changes one hour of suffering to an hour of 
joy, the writer will be abundantly repaid. 

Eugene Christian 

August, 1909. 



INSTINCT VS. CUSTOM 

Among all civilized people eating is con- 
trolled largely by custom, convention or 
race habit. 

Because of man's inventiveness, the hu- 
man species differ from other types of ani- 
mals in being governed less by instinct and 
more by custom or race habits. Some cus- 
toms are good — some are bad — some indif- 
ferent. All told, these customs and habits, 
which each child learns anew from its par- 
ents and playfellows, form what we call 
civilization. 

All wars, all political and religious dis- 
putes that have played over the map of the 
world have been but the clashing of various 
customs. The use of written language is a 
custom — a good custom, for it develops the 
human mind, enables us to learn more, to 
think more deeply, and to live and love more 
fully. Fashions in dress are customs — for 



22 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

the most part senseless customs, good, so 
long as they please ourselves and our 
friends ; bad, when they injure our bodies or 
when we use them to display wealth or allow 
them to occupy time and thought that could 
be devoted to better things. 

In eating, drinking and drugging, the lia- 
bility of custom to become harmful is much 
greater than in other human habits. Be- 
tween the customs of dieting and of drug- 
ging, there is this sharp distinction: Food 
is necessary to human life ; appetite for food 
is an instinct, and conventional diet is natu- 
ral instinct gone wrong through acquired 
custom. But drugging is wholly unneces- 
sary — ^it meets no natural need and can only 
interfere with nature's fixed and unchange- 
able plan — it is an acquired habit fastened 
upon the human race by those who do not 
really believe in it, except as a means of 
livelihood. 

The fact that a vast majority of human 
ills are directly traceable to man's habit of 
feeding is evidence that custom furnishes 
him no safe guide. 



INSTINCT VS. CUSTOM 23 

Human progress can be measured by the 
radical departures and the distance we have 
traveled from custom. The world's greatest 
souls which have led us toward the light have 
been martyred and ostracised because of our 
blind fear of departure from precedent, 
habit and custom. 

We are accustomed to look upon nature as 
perfect, and to accept whatever is as best; 
but this view is not strictly correct. Nature 
or evolution is, by natural selection, con- 
stantly approaching perfection, for the im- 
perfect and inharmonious are continually 
being eliminated by her laws. 

The perfection of nature is not so much in 
the perfection of the plan as in the adapta- 
tion of one thing in nature to fit into and 
work with another thing. A food chemist 
might plan a diet containing all the elements 
of which the human body is composed. His 
nitrogen he could get from the air, his car- 
bon from charcoal, his sulphur from crude 
brimstone, and his iron from the scrap heap. 
But such a diet would be useless because the 



24 srisrcooKED food 

human body has not been adapted to digest 
and assimilate these elements in this form. 

Science, freed from all prejudice and dog- 
matism, first studies the adaptations in na- 
ture, the relation of natural food to the di- 
gestive and metabolic processes of the body, 
which for long ages has been fitting itself to 
subsist upon these foods. After learning 
from nature the needs of the body, science 
strives to select foods that shall most nearly 
conform to these processes of nutrition. For 
illustration: Nature presumed that man 
would thresh grain and hull nuts with his 
hands — science does it by machinery and 
leaves man's hands free to build aeroplanes 
or wireless telephones. But where science 
says that mills should be substituted for 
teeth and malt for saliva, it interferes with 
processes that cannot be so easily readjusted. 

We should learn from rather than follow 
nature. The plant to live needs water. Na- 
ture gives it water, sometimes too much, 
sometimes too little. Man regulates nature. 
He builds a dam and catches the water in 
seasons of plenty and feeds it to the plant in 



INSTINCT VS. CUSTOM 25 

seasons of drought. He underdrains the soil 
so that the plant gets the proper amount of 
water at the proper depth; and he protects 
the surface of the soil from the excessive 
evaporating power of the summer sun by 
mulching the ground with a tilth of crumbly 
loam. The plant now produces thirty, sixty 
and a hundred fold more than it would 
under its natural conditions and environ- 
ment. 

Suppose, again, that man concluded that 
the temperature of this earth was too low, 
and by artificial means raised it to 120 de- 
grees. 

" How absurd," you say. '' It would be 
unbearable and kill off half the human 
race " — and so it would. But suppose man 
had been so constituted that such an abnor- 
mal temperature gave temporary pleasure 
or conformed to some foolish custom. In 
that case roasting would have become fash- 
ionable, even though it killed half the race, 
for such has been the case with intoxicants, 
stimulants, drugs, narcotics, tobacco, meats 
and mushy starch foods. 



26 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

If men were able to adapt their bodily in- 
heritance to new conditions as readily as 
they do their clothes, houses or vehicles, ath- 
letics would have no other use than that of a 
sport. As it is, we are equipped with the 
same kind of breathing, running and fight- 
ing mechanisms as were used by our Neo- 
lithic ancestors. It is a proposition of 
** vested interests." When we try to sub- 
stitute another method of locomotion or a 
new plan of digestion to the neglect of the 
one with which nature has fitted us, condi- 
tions develop which we call disease, and we 
name them gout, rheumatism, consumption, 
obesity or some Latin word ending in i-t-i-s. 
If it is a matter of flabby arms or legs, weak 
heart or lungs, athletics will build up the 
muscles and put the machine in good run- 
ning order. If the trouble is with the diges- 
tive, assimilative or excretory organs, a 
proper selection and combination of food 
mil decidedly lessen the dangers of conges- 
tion, which we are pleased to call disease. 

The man who follows custom in dietetic 



INSTINCT VS. CUSTOM 27 

matters is almost sure to go wrong. If some 
scissors expert, who called himself a scien- 
tist, should put all the foolish dietetic cus- 
toms of man in a big book and label it 
'' Catholiconocea " or a '* Martha Washing- 
ton Cook Book,'' the man who read it, would 
differ from the man who received his educa- 
tion on his grandmother's knee, only in 
knowing more wrong ways of eating. 

He who learns of nature and her laws of 
adaptation cannot go very far wrong, for 
nature feels her way. She does not develop 
a set of teeth and a stomach to match them 
which can only assimilate predigested food ; 
nor an appetite and digestive organs 
adapted to an anthropoid diet, with the kid- 
neys of a vulture. He who goes first to na- 
ture and learns of her requirements and her 
harmonies, and then brings into play a con- 
structive scientific mind, seeking the best 
material out of which to build the human 
body, or the most natural method of combin- 
ing and proportioning food according to 
age, climate and work, can add the construe- 



28 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

tive forces of reason to the constructive 
forces of nature, and make man, in things 
physical as he is in things psychical, the 
paragon of animals. 



COOKING 

All matter is composed of little electrical 
charges called ions. These ions are grouped 
in certain fashions to make the atoms of the 
chemical elements ; and these atoms, in turn, 
are arranged in various combinations which 
determine the chemical compounds or sub- 
stances of which the sea, earth and air, tad- 
poles, albatrosses and automobiles are com- 
posed. The manner in which these ions and 
atoms are combined determines which ele- 
ments or compounds are formed. Two ions 
chased by four abreast, followed by three 
more driving tandem, may be hydrogen, and 
six hydrogen atoms around two of carbon, 
with an oxygen atom circumnavigating the 
whole, form alcohol ; and three billion mole- 
cules of alcohol, four billion of water and 
one of common sense, make a ^' plain 
drunk." All these myriads of little eddies 
of electricity are in never-ending motion, 



30 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

whirling, turning and revolving in their or- 
bits like an infinite swarm of tiny comets, 
moons and suns. 

Just as the difference in the way in which 
these minute particles of matter are com- 
bined constitute the substances they form, 
so does the rate at which they move consti- 
tute what we call temperature. The form of 
motion and the rate of motion are intimately 
related. Certain forms of motion, and hence 
certain forms of matter, can exist only at 
certain temperatures. In the hottest stars 
we find only hydrogen and helium and the 
lighter elements. As the stars cool, nickel, 
iron and other metals are formed; much 
later, when the cooling process has pro- 
gressed far enough so that the motion or 
temperature is slowed down to something 
near the temperature we have on this earth, 
carbon, oxygen and nitrogen, the elements 
of life, are formed. 

But these life elements cannot combine to 
form the life substances until a temperature 
below the boiling point of water is reached. 



cooKiisrG 31 

At a temperature between 32° and 150° F., 
all the life on this globe was created. Were 
the temperature of the earth to pass again 
without that range, all life would perish, for 
this is the only range of temperature at 
which that most complex of chemical com- 
pounds, protoplasm, the essential substance 
of every living cell, can exist. 

In all that great range of temperature, 
from the hottest stars down to the absolute 
zero of interstellar space where the lightest 
of gases freeze as hard as steel, only in the 
one brief span of a hundred degrees, 
scarcely one-hundredth part of the whole, 
can life exist; while warm-blooded life, 
which is the highest form, can exist only 
within a range of ten degrees or twelve de- 
grees. We are even alarmed if the clinical 
thermometer shows a change in the tempera- 
ture of our blood of two degrees. 

Aided by the energy of sunlight, the vege- 
table or plant takes inorganic matter and 
converts it into organic or living matter, 
such as is found in leaves, fruits, nuts, ce- 



32 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

reals — ^the natural foods of man. It is only 
througli this process that mineral elements 
can become a part of animal life. 

As the life substance can exist only within 
a limited range of temperature, when we 
apply artificial heat to our food in the proc- 
ess of cooking it results in such a change as 
destroys the elementary plant form, and the 
mineral elements return to their inorganic 
condition. A leaf of cabbage, if immersed 
in water that can easily be endured by the 
bare hand, will wilt, showing that part of its 
cellular life is destroyed at that temperature. 

The degree of heat necessary to change 
the chemical properties of a substance de- 
pends upon the substance. Gold may be 
heated in a furnace to the highest tempera- 
ture which human ingenuity can attain, and 
it will still come out gold; but let a young 
housewife get her biscuits a few degrees too 
hot and they will come out of the oven a 
radically different substance from what she 
had planned. 

Sugar may be heated 200° or 300° without 



COOKING 33 

change. Starch begins to change at a much 
lower temperature. Proteid or protoplasm, 
the most essential substance in animal life, 
is the most susceptible of all, and coagulates 
at about 160° into a hard mass that cannot 
again be brought back into its original form. 
Living proteids undergo some change even 
at a lower temperature, for death, which is 
merely a chemical change, will ensue imme- 
diately if the temperature of the human 
brain be raised 10°. 

The heat can be increased until all plant 
life is destroyed. This becomes important 
when we remember that animal life is sup- 
ported and entirely constructed from plant 
life. The living plant possesses all the ele- 
ments from which animal life is made, yet 
millions of people insist on eating super- 
cooked foods. They insist on wheat being 
made into zwieback, which might be de- 
scribed as ashes held together by a little 
gluten, without ever spending one moment 
in thinking of the real difference in food 
value between this suff and the grain in its 
original state. 



34 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

Of all the curious customs into wMch 
people have evolved, cooking seems to pos- 
sess the least excuse for existence. It has 
made of woman a slave. It has made of the 
stomach a potpourri for everj^hing living 
or dead. It is the chief cause of mixing un- 
harmonious foods, which is the principal 
cause of overeating, which, in turn, is the 
genesis of nearly all stomach and intestinal 
disorders. It has changed man into an om- 
nivorous, and in some cases into a carniv- 
orous animal. 

<^ Why destroy the plant life before feed- 
ing it to the animal ? In what possible way 
can the application of heat improve it? " 
Our education, our science and learning are 
of small value if they do not teach us how 
to build the highest form of animal life from 
the material used. 

In the evolution of mankind the applica- 
tion of heat to food is comparatively of re- 
cent origin. Man probably began his cook- 
ing experiments by warming cold foods at 
his camp fire. Ak heat volatilizes the odor- 



COOKING 35 

ous substances in many foods, the custom of 
heating became popular owing to the pleas- 
ant odors or flavors produced by the process. 
The habit of cooking spread as many other 
novel and interesting customs have spread, 
regardless of whether the results were bene- 
ficial or harmful. 

Chemical Changes that Occur in Cooking 

The question of whether foods should be 
eaten cooked or uncooked can best be an- 
swered by studying the chemical and me- 
chanical changes produced in the process of 
cooking and their consequent physiological 
effects. 

Cooking may be grouped into two classes, 
designated as moist heat and dry heat. 

Sugars are not chemically affected by 
boiling with water. Starch, in the presence 
of boiling water or steam, absorbs from 
three to five times its bulk of moisture, and 
changes into a pasty or semi-dissolved mass. 

In the presence of dry heat, sugars are 
converted into a brown substance known as 



36 STJNCOOKED FOOD 

caramel. Starch, when heated to a tempera- 
ture of 300° to 400° without the presence of 
water, is changed into dextrine, of which 
toast and zwieback are examples. 

Fats are not changed chemically by heat- 
ing at the temperature of boiling water, but 
the globules are melted and the hot fat 
spreads in a film over other material which 
may be present. By dry heat, fats are chem- 
ically decomposed, forming irritating va- 
pors. The odors of frying are due to the 
presence of small quantities of these vapors. 
In larger quantities and with greater heat, 
these substances are excessively irritating, 
as every housewife knows who has allowed 
grease to burn in a skillet. 

The chemical changes produced by heat- 
ing proteids are of much more importance 
than the changes in other food groups. 
Simple proteids are coagulated at a tem- 
perature of about 160°. This form of 
change is very familiar to all in coagulation, 
which occurs in the boiling of eggs. This 
change in proteid material continues with 



COOKING 37 

the application of prolonged heat or higher 
temperatures until the proteid is converted 
into a dark, brittle mass, which is wholly in- 
soluble and indigestible. 

If the reader will take the white of an egg 
and bake it for some time in an oven, he can 
observe very readily the coagulation and 
hardening of the proteid. The chemical na- 
ture of these changes is one of great com- 
plexity. The molecules combine with each 
other, forming almost indestructible sub- 
stances. The combined or coagulated forms 
of proteid are represented in nature by 
horns, hoofs, finger nails, hair, and are in- 
digestible and non-nutritious. 

The statement is frequently made that 
starch of grain cannot be digested without 
cooking because the cells enclosing the 
starch grains have indigestible or insoluble 
cellulose walls. The old theory held that it 
is necessary to expand the starch and rup- 
ture or tear down these cell walls by cooking, 
thus freeing the contents so that the diges- 
tive juices may act upon the enclosed starch 



38 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

granules. This is a beautiful theory, but, as 
a matter of fact, the conception is wholly 
erroneous. The cell walls on the interior of 
the grain kernel are very filmy, and in the 
mature grain scarcely exist at all. The anal- 
ysis of wheat flour shows only a trace of cel- 
lulose and fiber. Were these cellulose walls 
within the wheat grain, as this theory com- 
monly teaches, flour would show a liberal 
quantity of cellulose. This theory as to why 
starch should be cooked furnishes an excel- 
lent illustration of the ease with which a 
groundless statement or theory may spread, 
simply because it seems to explain some pop- 
ular prejudice. 

In the process of cooking, many of the 
salts, which are combined with the organic 
constituents of food, are freed or rendered 
inorganic, which makes them of little or no 
value in the nutrition of the human body. 

Inasmuch as the majority of people think 
cooking necessary to health, forgetting 
probably that about half of the food con- 
sumed in the world at the present time is 



COOKING 39 

taken in its natural or imcooked state, it may- 
be well to mention other views advanced by 
those who, believing that the present diet of 
cooked grain is better for the modern man 
than an elementary diet, attempt to give a 
natural explanation. One theory is, that 
while cooked foods were originally detri- 
mental, yet, by continued evolution, man has 
become fitted for such a diet and unfitted 
for a natural diet. This is but another form 
of the old belief in the inheritance of ac- 
quired characteristics. This belief has been 
steadily losing ground among evolutionists ; 
for there is no more reason to expect that a 
modified function of the stomach would be 
inherited than there is to believe in the in- 
heritance of small feet among the Chinese 
ladies, or flat heads among certain tribes of 
Oregon Indians, just because these organs 
are mutilated by local custom. 

The best light of scientific knowledge now 
leads us to believe that the healthy child of 
to-day, in its capacity for nutrition, is prac- 
tically like the primitive child, and is well 



40 SIJNCOOKED FOOD 

fitted to subsist upon a varied diet of natu- 
ral foods. 

Cooked Foods for Animals 

It is only natural that people should rea- 
son that if, as commonly held, man owed 
much of his superiority over other animals 
to the use of cooked food, animals other 
than man should be benefited by a change to 
a cooked bill of fare. So about twenty or 
thirty years ago many farmers put their 
hogs, chickens, cows, horses and sheep on a 
cooked bill of fare ; and the more enthusias- 
tic feeders claimed beneficial results. Later, 
various government experiment stations 
took up the subject and made numerous 
careful and complete tests of the effects of 
cooked and uncooked food upon animals. 
The results did not show the expected thing. 
On the contrary, the cooking of foods for 
animals proved detrimental, and the de- 
cision of the government investigators was 
that cooking food for stock was, at its best, 
a wasteful fad owing its origin to a wrong 



COOKING 41 

theory. The custom has now become ahnost 
entirely obsolete. 

If cooking is good for man, who formerly 
subsisted on uncooked foods, and bad for 
other animals which also subsist upon such 
a diet, the only explanation is that the Crea- 
tor contemplated cook stoves when He made 
man, and planned his organs for the forth- 
coming change. For those whose analogy 
of creation is that of a child building a play 
house, this explanation may suffice, but to 
the mind which grasps the conception of 
creation by universal and unchanging laws 
such childish philosophy can only be a mat- 
ter of amusement. 

'* Eaw " Foods 

Foods that have ripened and been brought 
to a state of maturity by nature cannot con- 
sistently be called '' raw.'' The origin of 
this word was the effort to describe some- 
thing that was unfinished, crude and rough, 
or in some way objectionable. 

Think of applying this ugly word to a 



42 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

luscious bunch of purple grapes swinging 
to and fro in bowers of green ; or to a bick- 
ory-nut that has ripened in the top of a 
mountain tree, and whose life-giving prop- 
erties have been filtered through a hundred 
feet of clean, white wood. Or to a delicious 
apple, or peach, reddened, ripened and fin- 
ished ; born from the fragrant blossom and 
nursed and nurtured to maturity by the soft 
beams of the life-giving sun. 

These things are finished, ready for use; 
they are perfect, they are not raw, they are 
done; and when they are changed by fire 
they are undone. In the true sense of the 
word, cooking that which nature has ripened 
really renders it raw — ^hopelessly raw. The 
Standard Dictionary says that '^ raw '' 
means ^^ uncooked " but dictionaries are 
made by men. They record as true what- 
ever becomes customary ; if custom makes an 
error, then the dictionary records that error 
and people swear it is true because it is in 
the dictionary. If custom were to make 
'* wise " mean ^^ foolish,'' the dictionary 



COOKING 43 

would '*' back it "up/^ and wise men would be 
fools. Language is a thing of growth and 
development. It is a mechanical effort to 
express our emotions, our hopes, fears, joys, 
sorrows and sympathies. Language is con- 
tinually being born and continually being 
buried. 

An uncooked beefsteak could, with much 
consistency, be called raw. It looks raw and 
tastes raw. In the sense that the shoulder 
of a horse from which the skin has been 
worn by a rough collar is raw, so is an un- 
cooked beefsteak raw. We cannot accept 
the sweeping statement that all things are 
raw that are not cooked, though a thousand 
dictionaries were to say so. The word raw 
cannot be made to truthfully describe fruits, 
nuts, plants and grains in a perfect state of 
maturity. These were evolved by perfect 
laws or created by some supreme intelli- 
gence. They were sown with prodigal hand 
over the face of the earth; here they have 
blossomed and matured ; they have been fin- 
ished by nature, and no care-worn and mis- 



44 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

guided housewife can, with a blackened skil- 
let filled with hot hog fat, possibly improve 
them. 



WHY SUNCOOKED FOODS 

If there was nothing else to recommend 
the use of suncooked foods except simplicity 
and economy, it would be quite enough. 
There is nothing more complicated, more 
laborious and more nerve-destroying, than 
the preparation of the alleged good dinner. 
There is nothing simpler, easier and more 
entertaining than the preparation of an un- 
cooked dinner. The largest eating place in 
New York could be operated from an ice 
box and a pantry, were the cooking habit 
abolished. This, in all probability, will be 
done some time within the lifetime of the 
present generation, when people learn the 
true relations between food, energy and 
health. 

In order to gain some conception of the 
number of articles used in the preparation 
of a Thanksgiving dinner, the author took 
a very careful inventory during its prepara- 



46 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

tion, from the kitchen of a large New York 
hotel, to which he had entree. The total was 
192, while dozens of articles, such as catsups, 
sauces, mayonnaise dressings and chow- 
chows were counted as one. Such things 
were composed of from two to half a dozen 
different ingredients, which, if they could 
have been ascertained, would have run the 
grand total up, in all probability, to 250 dif- 
ferent articles. 

Is this not a hint from which anyone at 
all gifted with the power of analysis might 
draw a few deductions that would explain 
why it is that nearly all diseases, common to 
civilized man, have their origin in the 
stomach and intestinal organs ? 

All these food materials must be carried 
in stock by somebody. They are first col- 
lected from the place of their growth and 
brought to storehouses, factories, packing 
houses, mills and cookeries. They are put 
into casks, hogsheads, barrels, kegs, jugs, bot- 
tles, tin cans, bags, intestines of animals, and 
every conceivable thing that will hold liquid, 



WHY SUNCOOKED FOODS 47 

powder, grain and piece matter, and are 
carted to some place of storage, sold by com- 
mission men, resold to jobbers, again carried 
in stock for a time, sold to dealers, where 
they are again held up, and finally sold to the 
consumer, who has no conception of their 
age or source of production, and but little 
knowledge of their value as food. 

All this is extremely complicated and ex- 
pensive. It costs money every time these 
vast cargoes are stopped and stored, and 
more every time they are moved. Every 
day added to their age renders the majority 
of them more valueless as food and more 
expensive as commodities. Not content with 
this aged, unnatural, pickled and preserved 
condition, the housewife lays hold of them 
and proceeds to give them their finishing 
touch by fire. On the checkered highway of 
man's curious doings, there is indeed noth- 
ing more strange than this. 

We have in this country hundreds of dif- 
ferent articles of food which can be most ad- 
vantageously used without cooking; yet the 



48 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

cook intrudes his art, bakes, boils, stews, 
broils and heats these things until their 
original elements are wholly changed, and 
many of them are rendered almost totally 
valueless as food. 

Thus robbed of their elementary and de- 
licious flavors, the cook endeavors to make 
them appeal to the sense of taste by mixing, 
jumbling together, spicing and using decoc- 
tions called extracts, of the properties of 
which he knows absolutely nothing, until the 
original substance is so disguised that it can- 
not be recognized in taste, color or flavor. 
Food partaken of in this condition cultivates 
and appeals to an artificial, perverted and 
depraved taste, and leads its possessor in 
exactly the opposite direction from that 
which he must travel to secure the best nu- 
trition and the highest degree of energy or 
health. Those who enjoy their eating most 
and who have reached the highest standard 
of health and physical development, have 
succeeded in reducing their diet to less than 
a dozen articles. 



WHY SUNCOOKED FOODS 49 

It seems that everjrthing in connection 
with the affairs of civilized people conspires 
to recommend this simple method of living. 
In the selection and preparation of our food 
lies the controlling factor of health. Taste 
is the thing that controls selection. It 
should be studied and carefully encouraged 
towards nature's best and most nutritious 
things. If given a chance it will lead us into 
perfect obedience to nature's great dietetic 
laws. 



THE SELECTION AND PREPARA- 
TION OF POODS 

In the adoption of suncooked foods, more 
care in selection is required than when they 
are to be cooked, for, in the process of cook- 
ing, mixing and dressing, the real quality, 
taste and flavor of the articles becomes 
changed, lost and dissipated. The most in- 
ferior articles of food can be cooked and ar- 
tificially flavored, as they usually are, and 
still appeal to and satisfy the taste. A fa- 
mous French chef once served a pair of old 
kid gloves under a fanciful name, and the 
strange dish was very highly complimented 
and sought after. 

In all public eating places the special duty 
of the chef and steward is to use left-over 
foods. They are hashed, minced, flavored, 
spiced and peppered until the smell from 
the fermented or decayed portions is so con- 
cealed that they cannot signal the olfactory 



SELECTION AND PKEPAKATION OF FOODS 51 

nerves. By such recourse the most inferior 
and unhealthy articles can be used — a thing 
impossible with foods in their natural or 
elementary state. 

When using suncooked foods the senses of 
sight, smell and taste demand the best, and 
it is only fair that these senses should be 
consulted and satisfied. It is as criminal to 
deceive our taste and sight in matters of 
food as it is to obtain money under false pre- 
tenses from our friends ; and the penalty for 
this wrongdoing is even more certain to be 
paid. We often escape justice in deceiving 
our friends, but never in deceiving our- 
selves. We cannot jump our bail with na- 
ture. We are always caught and punished, 
for two crimes instead of one. 

One may be thoroughly convinced that the 
theory of suncooked foods is correct, but if 
such articles are selected as do not conform 
or appeal to the taste, the effort will prove 
futile. Pood should be selected that has 
ripened on the parent stalk or tree, in the 
sunshine, as far as possible. Those who are 



52 SFNCOOKED FOOD 

acquainted with the curative and life-giving 
properties of air and sunshine will readily 
perceive why the selection of thoroughly 
ripe and full-grown articles is so necessary. 

In selecting an apple of a red variety, get 
a deep, rich red. The deep red color indi- 
cates that the fruit has ripened on an outer 
twig of the tree, exposed to the sunlight, 
while the paler colors show that it has rip- 
ened under cover of foliage. This rule 
should be observed in the selection of all 
fruits, berries and melons of every kind, as 
far as possible, the rule being that whatever 
color is selected, it should be as pronounced 
as possible. In other words, get the best. 

Many good women have spent the best 
part of their lives, and volume after volume 
has been written in the endeavor to tell the 
world how to prepare foods. The very words, 
'^ prepare foods,'' suggest to the mind that 
they are not right; that nature has not fin- 
ished her work ; that something must be done 
to them before they are fit to be taken into 
the human body ; the words suggest that they 



SELECTION AND PREPARATION OF FOODS 53 

must be fixed, mixed, pealed, hashed, 
mashed, smashed, bruised, ground, shred- 
ded, heated, steamed, baked, boiled, oiled, 
roasted, toasted, greased, sweetened, soured, 
fermented, raised, mushed up, wet up, dried 
out, or in some way changed from the way 
in which they were handed to us by the 
provident hand of nature. 

The securing of food is the chief business 
of every living thing on this globe. The 
necessity of doing this has shaped to a very 
large degree both the body and the mind. It 
made for man hands suitable for plucking 
fruit, nuts and things that grew above his 
head high up in the air and sunshine. It 
gave to the lion claws and tusks to catch and 
tear his food. It gave to the hog a snout 
with which to root in the ground. It gave 
the stork and the crane legs adapted to wad- 
ing. It gave to the giraffe a long neck with 
which to reach buds and leaves. It gave to 
the honey bee an organ to collect honey, a 
sack in her own body to carry it ; and intel- 
ligence enough to make her 6ell in which to 
deposit it for future use. 



54 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

Food, taken as nature made it, will pro- 
duce a natural being. When it is changed, 
mixed, distilled and concentrated, it is un- 
natural and it will necessarily produce an 
unnatural being. For man is merely the net 
product of his food and, as is his food, so he 
must be. There is no problem in philosophy 
more obvious than this. 

It may be argued that our present meth- 
ods of feeding are the product of heredity, 
and with the long ages we have changed the 
artificial into the natural. This is not true, 
because the ultimate end of artificialism, 
that is, the violation of natural law, is ex- 
termination. 

There is no such thing as getting used to 
the wrong thing. 

A human being can never get used to whis- 
key and tobacco. They will stimulate the 
nervous system above par, only to drop it 
farther below each time they are touched. 
They leave their withering trail through the 
body and brain of the real man, and sink 
lower and lower each day the hopes, aspira- 



SELECTION AND PKEPAEATION OF FOODS 55 

tions and emotions. They cover the facul- 
ties with a callous veneering that finally be- 
comes impervious to the sweetest senses of 
the human heart. 

!Foods should be changed as little as pos- 
sible from their elementary condition. The 
idea of preparing foods should be allowed 
to fade entirely from the human mind. It 
is well to remember that they have been pre- 
pared once by infallible laws and all animal 
life evolved to fit them, and now the funny 
little biped called man proposes to change 
all this. 

When the average mind first considers 
uncooked food, it is apt to think only of the 
conventional diet in an uncooked state, raw 
meat, wheat, corn, potatoes, beef, poultry, 
fish and the limitless number of things that 
are repulsive to the mind and taste until 
they are in some way changed. 

Instead, picture a dainty table in a quiet 
corner, covered with spotless linen and laden 
with milk, cream, pecan meats, walnuts, pro- 
teid nuts, almonds, grapes, grape fruit, 



56 • SUNCOOKED FOOD 

bananas, pears, apples, peaches, cherries, 
dates, figs and raisins, luscious red melons 
and golden canteloupes, lettuce, cucumbers, 
ripe olives, celery, olive oil, and a dozen 
other delicious things, all of which, being 
natural, satisfy himger, furnish the highest 
form of nutrition, and quickly appeal to and 
excite the highest sense of taste and enjoy- 
ment. Many good people go through the 
world from the cradle to the coffin and, after 
leaving the maternal fount, never enjoy, 
never taste, one good, clean, pure, delicious, 
natural meal. 

Preparation of Suncooe:ed Poods 

The idea of preparing foods is so firmly 
fixed in the minds of women that the very 
suggestion of lessening their labors in this 
direction suggests the idea of limiting the 
family rations — depriving the table of its 
pleasure and luxury ; therefore, the idea of 
uncooked food meets with more or less oppo- 
sition. Experience has shown that men are 
more willing to accept the elementary food 



SELECTION AND PKEPAKATION OF FOODS 57 

idea than women, particularly when it 
promises to lighten the labors of their wives, 
mothers and daughters. 

There has been for many thousand years 
a sort of competition among housewives, 
hotels and all public and private eating 
places, as to which could prepare the great- 
est variety of foods, with the result that the 
table is held responsible for over 90 per cent 
of all human ills. 

This result is not sufficiently creditable to 
cause thinking people to clamor for its con- 
tinuation. It reminds me of the consolation 
I received once from a gentleman with 
whom I was playing a game of billiards. It 
was my off-day. The balls would neither 
** hit " nor *' hurdle '' for me, while his 
plays were all graceful and effective, and I 
was enjoying the supreme pleasure of see- 
ing him make all the points while I paid for 
the game. In answer to my complaint upon 
missing a simple shot, he said, '' Oh, that is 
nothing. I have seen luck run like that for 
three or four hours and, all of a sudden, get 
worse." 



58 SrNCOOKED FOOD 

The best foods need the least preparation. 
Geographic and climatic conditions, under 
which most of us live, of course, make har- 
vesting and garnering necessary; and in 
order to store certain foods for winter use, 
certain preparations become necessary; but 
when we come to prepare them for the table 
the effort should be to bring them back as 
nearly as possible to their original condition. 

All fruits from which the moisture has 
been removed by dehydration, so that they 
will keep from season to season, only need 
to have the moisture again restored to them 
by being soaked in pure water at about the 
temperature of the blood. This is the most 
healthful way evaporated, dehydrated or 
dried fruits can be prepared. 

Food Combhstations 

Nearly every article of food known, as 
bad as some of them are, will agree with the 
stomach if eaten alone or with a few other 
articles in normal quantities, and in combi- 
nations that are chemically harmonious. 



SELECTION AND PREPARATION OF FOODS 59 

When we say that certain things do not 
agree with us, we mean that we have eaten 
a combination of things that do not agree 
one with the other; and the stomach, being 
the receptacle of this chemical disturbance, 
is made the sufferer. The question of com- 
binations is extremely important in cooked 
foods, because the tendency of modern cook- 
ery is to mix and jumble together an innum- 
erable number of things, and pour over them 
condiments, sauces and dressings that are 
composed of dozens of other ingredients, 
until it becomes utterly impossible to ascer- 
tain by any method of calculation how many 
different articles compose one meal. 

It is always well to observe correct com- 
binations, though this is in reality of second- 
ary importance, for in subsisting on sun- 
cooked foods the natural tendency is to- 
ward simplicity. This is one of the great- 
est virtues following their adoption. In the 
beginning many are likely to desire each 
meal to be composed of a large number of 
articles. They like to see it spread around ; 



60 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

they want to see the table covered ; they want 
to see it groaning beneath a load, simply be- 
cause they were raised that way. They have 
no standard to measure from, except a 
cooked standard; but this optical appetite 
soon wears off, and the taste and delicious 
flavors that are developed by combining two 
or three things, lead the elementary student 
to ignore numerical display and make a meal 
upon three or four articles. 

A very delicious taste will be developed by 
eating fruits and nuts together, care being 
taken to masticate the nuts thoroughly be- 
fore the fruits are put into the mouth. If 
this rule is observed in eating vegetables and 
nuts, the same delightful taste will be experi- 
enced. 

There is a popular opinion among the ma- 
jority of people that appetite, that is, a de- 
sire for food, is an evidence of good health. 
This is one of the serious mistakes into 
which people have gradually evolved. Irri- 
tation of the mucous membrane of the stom- 
ach is one of the most serious and unhealthy 



SELECTION AND PEEPARATION OF FOODS 61 

conditions with which this much-abused or- 
gan is afflicted ; and while in this condition 
it calls with ferocity for food, the satisfying 
of which has killed suddenly hundreds of 
thousands of people whose death is attrib- 
uted nearly always by the learned doctors to 
heart failure. And I agree with them com- 
pletely. I know of no other way to die ex- 
cept for the heart to fail, and it matters but 
little whether the " heart failed '' on ac- 
count of being shot, beheaded by a Cuban 
machete, or on account of an over-loaded 
stomach — the doctor's ^* heart-failure " the- 
ory is safely correct. The difference be- 
tween the ^^ learned profession " and myself 
is, they seem content with the heart-failure 
theory, while I am trying to ascertain why 
hearts fail and, if possible, to remove the 
causes. 

The Treating Habit 

The treating habit, our prohibition 
friends say, is responsible for much of the 
evil of alcoholism. 



62 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

In eating the treating habit is a little more 
genteel, but fundamentally the same as in 
drinking. Eating does and should give us 
pleasure, and pleasure we like to share; 
moreover, the accumulation of plenty to eat 
was the first or primitive form in which 
wealth was displayed, and the pleasure of 
possessing wealth is the privilege of showing 
others that you have as much or more than 
they. For these reasons, the habit of eating 
together was inevitable, and the custom of 
urging our guests to eat more is inherent in 
the love of display. Thus the *^ groaning 
table " came to be the sign of wealth and 
generosity, and the course dinner with the 
cooked, spiced and pickled foods is a natural 
step in the evolution of human vanity. 

Look for a moment at a conventional meal 
and ask yourself the reasons for and the re- 
sults of each step. Why is the dinner served 
in courses'? Why is one's plate loaded up 
by another? Why is more put upon his 
plate than he can or is supposed to eat, and 
why is it considered a breach of etiquette to 



SELECTION AND PREPARATION OF FOODS 63 

refuse something you do not wish, or in any 
way to utilize your own good taste or judg- 
ment in the selection of your foods or the 
manner in which you eat them ? 

Or again, take the customary repast of a 
family in moderate circumstances — the Sun- 
day dinner of a well-to-do farmer, for illus- 
tration. How much of the food prepared is 
actually eaten ? How much of that actually 
eaten goes to the nourishment of the body 
and how much is decomposed and forms 
toxic or poisonous products? How much 
did the dinner cost ? How much would the 
actual nourishment needed by the diners 
cost? Why this waste of money, of effort, 
of health? If the farmer wanted to show 
off his wealth, why should he not buy an 
automobile? If his wife wanted to possess 
an accomplishment, why should she not 
learn to paint or make a flower garden ? 

Why do we rank woman according to the 
number and variety of concoctions which she 
laboriously prepares to tempt our loaded 
stomachs tiU we, like the table, groan ? Why 



64 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

not rank our women by their knowledge of 
the laws of nutrition and health, by their 
ability to instruct us and our children in 
what to eat and how to eat it, instead of their 
insistence in surfeiting our over-burdened 
digestive tracts with the continual " do have 
some more '' ? Why not value our wives by 
the time they learn to spend out of the 
kitchen amid books, flowers and music, and 
with their children, instead of the length of 
time they stand over the scorching stove and 
steaming dishpan ? 

Any law of etiquette that is at variance 
with the laws of health and happiness, or 
that infers that your guest has not sense 
enough to know what he should and should 
not eat, and especially how much he should 
eat, is foolish and vulgar; and good taste 
will be best displayed by its disregard. 

The etiquette of the suncooked food table 
permits each guest to select what he will 
from the bill of fare provided, and to dic- 
tate as far as possible how large a portion 



SELECTION AND PREPAEATION OF FOODS 65 

shall be served him. Natural foods may, for 
the most part, be prepared in such form that 
they are served in dainty portions, of which 
each may partake of the amount his appetite 
dictates without waste. Table etiquette 
based upon a respect for the intelligence and 
personal liberty of guests instead of upon 
ostentation and show, should provide foods, 
from which guests may be served and may 
eat if they wish, not with foods from which 
they must be served, and from which they 
must eat a portion, and leave a portion in 
order to avoid violating a foolish rule that 
no one really wishes to obey. 

Are you afraid of being thought queer *? 
Then tell your guests in plain language your 
philosophy of good taste. If you are afraid 
of being thought stingy, and wish to show 
off your little accumulation of this world's 
goods, set your table with a wholesome fruit, 
nut and salad menu and a bottle of fresh 
grape juice, and then buy a thousand dol- 
lars' worth of orchids to decorate the room 



66 SrNCOOKED FOOD 

or hire Sousa's band to play in the balcony. 
The perfume of orchids and the divine har- 
mony of music never gave a man hyperchlor- 
hydria or parenchymatous nephritis. 



THE EMANCIPATION OF WOMAN 

If the study of the natural or elementary 
food question had for its object nothing 
more than giving to the human family their 
birthday of health and years, and aiding 
their mental faculties in reaching a higher 
development, it would justify the most pro- 
found attention of every thinking woman. 

When the house is provided, and the 
woman who has dreamed of a home is set- 
tled therein, it gradually dawns upon her 
that instead of being a queen she is an im- 
prisoned vassal. She finds that she must 
stand over a miniature furnace for an hour 
in the morning and breathe the poisonous 
odor of broiling flesh, and spend another 
hour among the grease and slime of pots and 
dishes, instead of occupying that time walk- 
ing in the morning sunlight and drinking in 
nature's purifying air. 

The fires of the morning are not out until 



68 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

those for the noon are kindled. The labors 
from luncheon lap over into the evening, and 
those of evening far into the night. The 
throne over which she dreamed of wielding 
the queenly sceptre has been transformed 
into a fiery furnace, gilded with greasy pots 
and plates, blood and bones, over which, by 
common custom, the dishrag waves as an en- 
sign of her rank and profession. 

The home of which she dreamed has laid 
upon her a confinement and labor but little 
lighter than that which society puts upon the 
criminal who has violated its laws. 

The picture of a husband and wife grow- 
ing old together, walking hand in hand up 
to the noon of life, and turning over the hill 
toward the evening of old age, is only 
painted by poets and dreamers, most likely 
old bachelors and old maids. 

The average husband and wife do not 
grow old together. The wife spends six or 
seven hours of each day endeavoring to pre- 
pare food and create dishes that will appeal 
to the perverted taste and appetite of her 



EMANCIPATION OF WOMAN 69 

husband, and probably the short-notice 
'' friend to dinner." The anxiety and men- 
tal tension that she undergoes from day to 
day and year to year wear upon her form 
and face, and like the long dripping of water 
upon the stone leave their mark of nervous 
exhaustion and premature old age. 

From this deplorable condition of woman- 
kind, the use of sujicooked or natural foods 
will bring relief and freedom. In hundreds 
of cases that have come to my knowledge 
where this experiment has been honestly 
tried, it has resulted in a revolution in the 
household culinary department, and in giv- 
ing the wife enough mental and physical 
freedom to permit her to preserve her youth- 
ful charms, and to cultivate those higher 
faculties upon which every woman must de- 
pend for attraction and happiness as age 
advances. 

It is utterly impossible for a woman to 
spend six hours out of twelve in the dense 
and smoky atmosphere of a kitchen over a 
roasting fire, breathing air laden with the 



70 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

fumes of burning flesh and steaming foods, 
and give to lier progeny those beautiful fac- 
ulties which are their birthright, and which 
have been the dream of her dreams. 

It is also impossible for a woman to build 
her body, brain and heart out of such mate- 
rial as the flesh of dead animals, fermented 
fruit (wine), fermented bread, and the in- 
numerable narcotics and cooked or devital- 
ized foods with which the average table is 
laden, and think beautiful thoughts and 
keep her sympathies and sense of justice 
and mercy in that beautiful and highly civil- 
ized realm where the cultivated and ad- 
vanced woman, especially the mother, should 
dwell. 

I am convinced — convinced from experi- 
ence, that great school from which all true 
knowledge comes — ^that the first and most 
important step in nature toward making a 
perfect woman lies in the selection of the 
food material out of which the human body 
and all the restless flood of emotions that 
ceaselessly ebb and flow in its strange mech- 
anism are made. 



EMANCIPATION OF WOMAN 71 

Nearly every step in civilization has been 
taken in the direction of lightening human 
labor, except in the art of preparing foods. 
This has been doubled and trebled a thou- 
sand times, and laid upon the delicate shoul- 
ders of woman. 

The railroad train would never have been 
invented had it not been that man objected 
to toting burdens on his back. The tele- 
phone and telegraph were the outgrowth of 
man's protest against the courier system. 
Inventions of all the marvelous machines to 
which we point as evidences and marks of 
our civilization, originated in the one 
thought, the saving of human labor. But 
the stomach is a veritable gehenna, and the 
appetite its grizzly gorgon that holds mil- 
lions of women in a worse bondage than the 
negro suffered in the South before the war. 

Such a bondage might be tolerated by the 
mothers of the race if, in return, mankind 
had made a few steps in his forward march. 
But when it is considered that this enslave- 
ment of woman has cost man half his natu- 



72 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

ral period of longevity, and is responsible 
for 90 per cent of his ills, is it not time that 
he should make some effort to swing the pen- 
dulum of events in the other direction? 



APPLIED FOOD CHEMISTRY 

The bee, in some respects, is a very stupid 
animal. If a puncture is made in a cell that 
it is filling, it will go on all summer pouring 
honey in at the top while it runs out at the 
bottom. But when the queen bee is accident- 
ally destroyed, the worker bees will take 
the egg that ordinarily would produce a neu- 
ter or non-sexual worker, and by putting it 
into a special cell and feeding the young 
larva on royal bee bread, it will grow to be 
twice the size of the worker, and develop into 
a queen bee, endowed with the wonderful 
power of sex. 

The entire physiology of the bee is 
changed by a change in the system of 
feeding. 

Man considers himself the wisest of ani- 
mals; but he would not try to fill a barrel 
with an open bung hole at the bottom, unless 
he was in the condition into which he was 



74 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

trying to get the barrel. But man, although 
he has worked out a science of food chemis- 
try that fills immense volumes, has not in the 
past been able to apply this knowledge so as 
to produce and maintain normal health, to 
say nothing of changing the very nature of 
his organism by the power of nutrition, as 
does the bee, guided only by blind instinct. 

Science has probed more deeply into 
every other department of human affairs 
than it has into human health — the basic 
factor from which all other human activities 
spring. Every large city maintains an ex- 
pensive health department, but its work is 
chiefly confined to sanitation. Many great 
colleges teach food chemistry, but have re- 
mained silent upon the important question 
of how it is to be applied or used so as to be 
of any practical benefit. 

To know the chemical constituency of the 
human body is certainly interesting. To 
know the chemistry of food is likewise in- 
teresting. But what profiteth a man to know 
the chemistry of his body or the chemistry 



APPLIED FOOD CHEMISTRY 75 

of his food if he does not know how to apply 
this knowledge for his own good — for the 
prevention and cure of disease ? This knowl- 
edge is clearly within the realm of science, 
yet the Bureau of Chemistry, under our Fed- 
eral Department of Agriculture, whose bul- 
letins give the chemical analysis of all our 
food products, has nothing to say about how 
food should be selected, combined and pro- 
portioned under the varying conditions of 
age, temperature of environment and work, 
so as to give the best results in physical and 
mental health. 

The reason of this failure is that food 
chemistry in the past has been studied and 
pursued as a ^^ pure science," and not as an 
applied science. By pure science I mean a 
science the purpose of which is the mere 
finding out of things for the satisfaction of 
knowing, rather than for the purpose of us- 
ing that knowledge. The philosophy upon 
which pure science justifies its existence is 
that when a man is looking for a definite 
thing he is very liable not to find anything ; 



76 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

but when he looks for truth for the sake of 
truth, he will find many things, some of 
which will be useful. 

All branches of learning have their pure 
scientists. The knowledge of electricity was 
developed in our universities as a pure 
science long before Edison applied it. Pro- 
fessors in laboratories had played with wire- 
less electricity many years before Marconi 
or De Forrest made it useful. Burbank is an 
applied scientist in plant breeding, but there 
are a half hundred professors in botany, 
whose names are unheard of outside of the 
particular college campus where they reside, 
who have more theoretical knowledge about 
plants than Burbank. 

College professors are satisfied with the 
finding of truth. It takes a different kind of 
man to give it to the world in usable form. 
Pure scientists discover facts. Edison, Mar- 
coni and Burbank use facts. These men do 
things. The man of pure science is the 
miner of knowledge ; he digs the crude metal 
which the man of applied science can work 
into a useful machine. 



APPLIED FOOD CHEMISTRY 77 

Why have we long had an applied science 
of electricity and of botany and of animal 
breeding and no applied science of human 
nutrition? The answer is obvious. The 
application of food chemistry or human nu- 
trition is the work of building good bodies 
and keeping them in repair. That field of 
effort is occupied by the drug doctor, and so 
powerfully has he been intrenched in the 
public mind that it has taken many years for 
this branch of science to get recognition in 
a field where it finds its only application and 
use ; but when once fully applied, it will be 
recognized as the most useful branch of hu- 
man knowledge. 

Why is Disease 

Every century, since civilization dawned, 
has left upon the pages of history some great 
thing, something worthy of a place in litera- 
ture and memory. Empires and dynasties 
have risen and fallen like bubbles on the 
water ; bloody typhoons — called wars — ^have 
swept over the earth and exterminated races 
and changed the map of the world. 



78 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

The mind of man was employed for thou- 
sands of years in trying to ascertain where 
he came from, for what purpose he was here, 
and where he was going. Stimulated and 
excited by invention and travel, only a few 
hundred years ago the faculties of gain and 
accumulation began their development. 
These have grown and evolved until they 
have reached such ugly and vulgar eminence 
that it is no longer respectable to be ex- 
tremely rich. 

It is only within the last few years that 
the intelligence of mankind has been di- 
rected towards finding out the really useful 
things in life. 

So long as men looked into the heavens 
and said, '^ The Lord will provide,'' they 
never took much interest in performing that 
very important task themselves. So long as 
they depended upon ignorant kings and rul- 
ers for guidance, the brain was a useless 
lump of clay; but in this decade people are 
thinking. 

The question mark is the sign of the times. 



APPLIED FOOD CHEMISTEY 79 

The universal password is '^ Why? " Why 
is disease so common and perfect health so 
rare ? Why are the great majority of people 
afflicted'? Why has the word '^ ease '^ been 
changed to ^' disease ''? Why do we find so 
many specimens of perfect health and de- 
velopment in all other forms of life and so 
few among mankind — the king ? 

All forms of animal life on this globe, ex- 
cept man, live about eight times their pe- 
riods of maturity. Man matures at twenty- 
four. Measured, therefore, by all other 
forms of life, he should live nearly 200 years. 
But he drops into his grave at an average 
age of forty — while he is yet in his youth. 

There is a reason for this. And it has just 
occurred to the budding mind of the learned 
ones to ask, of what is man made? With 
what kind of material does he keep himself 
fed and repaired? 

Disease is merely the outward expression 
or penalty for violated laws. Health is na- 
ture's reward for conformity to her laws. 
If man's present condition is imperfect and 
unnatural, to what must it be attributed? 



80 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

The question at last is being solved. It 
could not long remain unanswered. It is too 
great, too important, too stupendous, too se- 
rious, for the great throbbing heart of the 
world to go on and give it no thought. The 
best talent in America — ^that throne and 
home of genius, whose light and literature 
have encircled the world — is beginning to 
turn toward this question. Men are really 
beginning to think something about the ma- 
terial out of which they construct them- 
selves. 

The Function of Food 

The true function of food is to supply ma- 
terial for growth and for new tissue, to give 
to the body energy in the form of heat, mo- 
tion, chemical and nervous action. Things 
which do not serve these purposes cannot be 
consistently classed as food. On the con- 
trary, they are exactly the opposite, for 
when they are taken into the body, they must 
be excreted at the expense of energy. These 
facts should be observed in the selection of 
all materials used as food. 



APPLIED FOOD CHEMISTRY 81 

Obedience to nature ^s laws will keep life 
in the line of evolution to higher and higher 
degrees of perfection till it reaches that ze- 
nith to which nature is ever striving to 
bring all she creates. 

But if these laws are violated, the process 
of evolution is interfered with, and the pen- 
alty is disease and death. 

In the support and maintenance of life 
the first and most important thing is the sub- 
stance upon which it feeds. Animals in their 
native state seem to put the proper appreci- 
ation upon foods. They instinctively reject 
that which is harmful — ^that which would 
interfere with nature's process of evolution 
— and accept as food that which is good for 
them. Man does not act with such wisdom. 
Civilization has created for him complex 
and artificial environments, in the chaos of 
which his instincts have been lost. 

Man seems to have appropriated for food 
everything he could lay his hands on. His 
chief study and delight seems to have been 
the mixing and stirring together of all sorts 



82 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

of things, the combinations of which go to 
infinity. The most learned chemist in the 
world would not dare risk his reputation 
upon an attempt to analyze an ordinary 
Thanksgiving dinner. 

The only true function of food is the 
growth and support of life. The needs of 
the human body are very limited. All the 
nutritive elements it requires can be found 
in the purest form in less than half a dozen 
different articles, which, in a natural and 
healthy being, should be selected by the de- 
mands of the system expressed by hunger. 

The Stone the Buh^ders Rejected 

The digestive tract is a machine that 
makes blood out of food. Food is the raw 
material, the clay, and blood the building 
material, the tile — the body the finished 
structure. If you have poor building mate- 
rial, you will have a poor body. Natural 
(suncooked) food, in the right quantities 
and combinations, will make absolutely 
pure blood. Pure blood acts first on the 



APPLIED FOOD CHEMISTKY 83 

brain, increasing thought activity; thought 
precedes all action. Pure blood builds up 
the body to its normal or natural condition, 
and fills it with strength, energy and vitality. 
It is the only thing that will make your skin 
fit your face. It will give you a bright, at- 
tractive and splendid personality — in short, 
it will give you ideal health. When you 
have perfect health you can brave anything ; 
you will be in love with the world and people 
will love you, because the world is only a big 
mirror that reflects back the same image you 
present before it. Abundant health will 
make you cheerful and contented, and when 
you present a cheerful and contented front 
to the world, it will reflect the same thing 
back to you ; then, and not till then, have you 
gained life's highest reward. Piling up 
money at the expense of your health is like 
a child piling up dust in the road only to be 
scattered to the winds by every vagrant 
breeze. 

Nature never intended you to be thin, 
emaciated, pale, weak, nervous, irritable and 



84 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

sick. Health is your natural condition ; dis- 
ease has to be caught. 

Errors in eating and drinking are the 
causes of nearly all congestions and accumu- 
lations of unnatural matter in the human 
body. Nature's process of eliminating these 
we call disease. Disease, therefore, is not 
an enemy but a friend to the human race. 
It is an effort on the part of nature to save 
us from self-destruction. 

There never was, never will be, nor never 
can be a drug that will cure disease. It 
would be as much of a miracle to cure dis- 
ease without removing causes as the turning 
of water into wine or raising the dead. 
Causes can only be removed by obeying the 
natural and infallible laws governing life. 

Genius builds and furnishes our homes, 
constructs our ships and machinery, and 
clothes our bodies. Thought has trans- 
formed the modest daisy into the chrysan- 
themum, the wild rose into the American 
Beauty, the stage coach into the aeroplane, 
the courier into wireless telegraphy, and the 



APPLIED FOOD CHEMISTKY 85 

tallow candle into the mercury vapor light, 
but ignorance still prepares and compounds 
our food. Ignorance is our steward and 
chef. 

It seems incredible now that such men as 
Edison, Morse and Marconi, Schubert, 
Chopin and Wagner, Longfellow, Browning 
and Whittier, Huxley, Haeckle and Hum- 
boldt, Emerson, IngersoU and Lincoln, men 
who have created miniature suns and stars, 
who have flashed civilization's ringing voice 
around the world; men who are twining 
around this globe a fabric woven from a 
woof and warp of wires and words, flashed 
over mountains and continents, over and 
under seas ; men who, with rh3^hmic words 
and music's weird charm have planted in 
the human heart the roses of sympathy and 
love; men who have held aloft the shining 
torch of truth in the maelstrom of supersti- 
tious, dismal night; men who, with silver 
tongues and prophetic deeds, have placed 
our flag in the heavens and fixed the star of 
hope above the cradle of the poor man's 



86 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

child ; men who have left literary legacies to 
the world and swept with their immortal 
pens every string on the harpsichord of hu- 
man emotions — is it not strange, I say, that 
men like these have given no thought to the 
kind of material that would build the best 
blood, bone and brain ! 



MASTICATION 

The stomach has no teeth. Teeth were the 
product of necessity. They were placed in 
the moTith by nature for the specific purpose 
of emulsifying food. 

Food that is not thoroughly pulverized by 
mastication must be reduced to solution by 
the stomach and the other digestive organs. 
If it be such material as the various solvent 
juices will not dissolve, then it must be dis- 
posed of by disintegration, which starts with 
fermentation. This is the genesis of nearly 
all indigestion and intestinal disorders. 

Fermentation changes food from a life- 
giving to a life-destroying substance. It 
generates poisons which are absorbed by the 
system and which prey upon the red cor- 
puscles of the blood, lowering the vitality of 
every organ of the body. 

Nature refuses to create and keep health- 
ful any part of the anatomy which is not 



88 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

used. Allow the arm to rest at the side for 
a few months and nature will cease to feed 
it, and it will become feeble, emaciated and 
almost useless. Nature is a perfect econo- 
mist. If the teeth are not used, she will re- 
fuse to keep them in repair; she will allow 
them to decay. She presumes that you do 
not need them because you have refused to 
put them to that use for which they were 
created. So long as people subsist upon 
soft, cooked, mushy foods, they cannot have 
good teeth. 

While preparing this work I dined with 
some friends whose knowledge of the culi- 
nary art was very highly developed; from 
memory, I made an inventory of the quan- 
tity of food consumed by one of the most 
advanced disciples of French cookery; and 
according to my calculations, if the same 
quantity of material had been eaten in its 
elementary state and thoroughly masticated, 
it would have sustained the body under ordi- 
nary labor for a period of five days, and, 
with proper mastication, it would have taken 



MASTICATION" 89 

about thirteen hours continuous chewing to 
have eaten the meal. 

Thorough mastication will develop num- 
erous flavors in natural foods that are a 
revelation in enjoyment to those who live 
upon them. The majority of people cheat 
and dull the keenest sense of taste and de- 
feat the primary purposes of nature by 
yielding to their hurried environment. The 
most delicious flavors of foods are developed 
only by mastication, which gives the saliva 
time enough to act upon their chemical prop- 
erties, and begin the process of changing and 
digesting them. For instance : the changing 
of starch into grape sugar is the first process 
of digestion; if done by mastication it de- 
velops a most delicious taste. If this most 
important function is not performed in the 
mouth by the act of mastication, the taste- 
buds are not only robbed of their rights, but 
extra labor is put upon the other digestive 
organs, and the process of digestion is much 
retarded and made more difficult. 

Perfect mastication is the surest means of 



90 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

avoiding the habit of over-eating, which is 
so disastrous to the health and so common 
among civilized people. Every penny- 
weight of food taken into the stomach that 
cannot be used, is converted into poisons and 
becomes at once a leaden load upon the body. 
It so overburdens the excretory organs that 
they become torpid and congested, and a 
long train of common ills follow. 

Food should be masticated until every 
atom is liquefied and is swallowed involun- 
tarily. This would quadruple the pleasure 
of eating and eliminate nearly all forms of 
indigestion, constipation and over-eating. 

In commencing the use of suncooked 
foods, the taste and appetite, so long fed 
upon fired and devitalized foods, must be 
reckoned with. If they accept the new diet, 
all is well ; but should they rebel, give them 
some cooked food now and then. Then give 
them plenty of live, vital foods again, and 
the taste will soon accept the natural article. 
Then will one begin to live in a new world. 

Until taste and hunger are sufl5cieritly 



MASTICATION" 91 

well trained to demand such food as the svs- 
tern needs, we must employ science to aid 
them. We should avoid the continuous use 
of such things as contain similar nutritive 
elements, that is to say, we should not eat 
too much of any one thing. We should ac- 
quaint ourselves with the chemical constitu- 
ents of the leading articles of diet, which will 
enable us to select intelligently our daily 
menu until abnormal appetite is changed to 
natural hunger. 

No greater question can possibly com- 
mand the thoughts of people than the study 
of nature's infallible laws of feeding. When 
the proper energy and vitality are given to 
the body by correct food, a certain amount 
of motion becomes imperative. We would 
not need to take lessons in physical culture. 
We would be forced to obey the demands of 
the body, thus sending to the lungs an extra 
amount of blood, which would cause deep 
breathing or extra oxidation of waste 
matter. 

Therefore, if the great natui*al law of 



92 STJNCOOKED FOOD 

feeding was obeyed, we would instinctively 
carry out the laws of motion and breathing, 
which would give us not only perpetual in- 
surance against disease, but emblazon the 
way to perfect health. 

Fletcherism 

So important is mastication in the proper 
nutrition of the body that Horace Fletcher 
has made an '' ism " of it. And a great and 
growing " ism " it is. When Fletcher's first 
book on the subject was published six years 
ago the doctors laughed — so did a good 
many other people. But Fletcher's words 
have run into many editions in many lan- 
guages, and Horace Fletcher, a man under 
medium size and past the supposed prime of 
life, and who subsists upon about one-third 
the quantity of food the medical authorities 
prescribe, continues to break strength and 
endurance records ; while universities, mag- 
azines and Chautauqua managers invite this 
retired merchant to come and tell people 
how to chew their food — and why. 



MASTICATION 93 

Animals, in their natural state, masticate 
their food leisurely and thoroughly. Graz- 
ing, seed-gathering and fruit-eating animals 
are all great chewers ; in fact, they spend a 
large portion of their time eating, as their 
only purpose in life is to secure food and 
procreate their kind. With such animals 
there is no incentive to bolt food, and as such 
a process would result only in harm to the 
animal who practiced it, natural selection 
has eliminated the tendency. But when a 
pack of wolves captures and slays a buffalo 
eating becomes a matter of competition. 
The wolf who transfers the most buffalo 
meat to his interior in the least possible time 
has the best chance of living through the 
period of starvation that may ensue before 
the next buffalo is slain. Mastication to an 
animal with such feeding habits is a decided 
handicap; nature, therefore, puts the func- 
tion of flesh digestion in the stomach and 
turns the wolf's teeth into mere tearing or- 
gans. The carnivorous beast had to eat in 
this manner in order to live, and in the 



94 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

scheme of adaptation nature has harmonized 
digestion with the method of eating. Man, 
roaming through the primeval forest, did 
not find great piles of mashed potatoes, fes- 
toons of bologna or plates heaped with 
corned beef and cabbage. As he began to be 
civilized, and these wolf-like methods of 
feeding were introduced, he learned to bolt 
his food in order to get his share, and to com- 
pete in the race for other things to satisfy 
his vanity. Were nature as speedy in her 
changes, as artificial habits are in their 
growth, man would long since have lost his 
teeth and salivary glands, and acquired a 
food paunch like that which the camel has 
developed to carry water in the desert. But 
evolution does not work so rapidly, and each 
generation of humans is born with teeth and 
salivary glands, and anthropoid tastes and 
appetites. Bach individual, under the laws 
of civilized custom, is taught the neglect and 
abuse of these functions, which bring along 
a train of human suffering, and the Creator 
is accused of sending an affliction. 



MASTICATION" 95 

These same people are usually law-abid- 
ing citizens. Were thev to violate a code 
made by their fellows, they would expect to 
suffer the penalty, but it seems never to have 
occurred to them that every molecule in this 
sphere and every star in space moves in 
obedience to divine ordinance, and that 
everything in this universe, man included, is 
created and developed according to laws 
that stand inexorable, infallible, unchange- 
able. If anything is divine, the laws that 
control man's development are divine, and 
their penalties are just and certain. Man 
has been fitted into them by the long process 
of evolution, which preserves those who 
obey, and eliminates those who fail to con- 
form to the great cosmic scheme. Man is a 
result, not a cause. His health and disease 
are the direct results of his knowledge or 
ignorance of, his conformity to or disobedi- 
ence of, the divine edicts of nature. 

People, who should commune with each 
other to learn from the common experience 
of all the laws of nature, and the inevitable 



96 SIJNCOOKED FOOD 

results that follow their obedience or viola- 
tion, meet instead, about once a week, and 
appoint one of their number, who is a good 
attorney, to talk to the Creator. This medi- 
ator instructs the Creator in His duty, re- 
minds Him of His promises, beseeches Him 
to change His mind, prays Him to reverse 
the laws of the universe — to cure Sister Sut- 
ton's rheumatism (which was caused by vio- 
lating the divine laws of diet) — and usually 
winds up by telling Him to do as He pleases, 
and they will all be satisfied. 

Instead of pleading man's cause before 
the courts of heaven, were the same energy 
and time devoted to studying his natural re- 
quirements imder the varying conditions of 
his civilization and environment — searching 
for causes, digging through the sham veneer 
of dietetic artificialism down to truth, and 
teaching it to the masses — an amazing revo- 
lution in the health and morals of the nation 
would result. 

Fortunately, the Creator works through 
natural laws, and the laws of inheritance are 



MASTICATION" 97 

not affected by the perverted habits of a few 
generations of rebellious beings. Mr. 
Fletcher's observations upon children have 
proved emphatically that it is ^^ natural " to 
masticate our food. We learn to bolt it. We 
often see painful examples of this educa- 
tional process in the ordinary home when 
the child is not only given a continuous diet 
of artificially softened and moistened food, 
but is urged to hurry with his eating. The 
impatience shown and the ridicule thrust 
upon the child by other members of the fam- 
ily whose appetites and habits are already 
depraved, when the young creature is trjdng 
with all the instinct of his being to live 
aright, is one of the pathetic crimes of civil- 
ization. 

The only mistake of Fletcherism, as 
taught by the originator, is that he instructs 
the people to Fletcherize the conventional 
bill of fare. This is good so far as it goes, 
especiallv for those who have taken up the 
idea with sufficient m.ental enthusiasm, but 
the ordinary mortal who for years has been 



98 suisrcooKED food 

subsisting upon biscuits that '' melt in your 
mouth," and gravy with mashed potatoes, 
finds the gulping habit too strong to be read- 
ily overcome, and after making a few half- 
hearted e:fforts and seeing no change in his 
bodily welfare, he gives it up. Yet this same 
individual would chew apples or nuts to ex- 
ceeding fineness. 

Foods, in their natural condition, are in 
such form as to command, at least to induce, 
about the proper amount of chewing, pro- 
viding one's mental state is at all normal. 
Starch foods especially need mouth diges- 
tion, while cellulose foods require to be 
thoroughly macerated so that the cell walls 
will be ruptured and permit the escape of 
the enclosed nutriment. Such foods in their 
natural state require thorough mastication 
before they can be swallowed. The process 
is instinctive. Sugar and proteids do not, 
in the economy of digestion, require much 
insalivation ; hence a raw egg or a ripe peach 
may be taken with less mastication than 
grains or green vegetables. 



MASTICATION 99 

It takes a most depraved appetite, indeed, 
to bolt nut meats or a leafy salad. On the 
other hand, it takes a most heroic mind to 
chew soup and masticate a corn-starch cus- 
tard. It is too much like practicing boxing 
without an opponent or a punching bag. 

Horace Fletcher at the age of fifty was a 
health-broken business man. The life insur- 
ance doctor refused to grant him a policy. 
Mr. Fletcher, now approaching the three- 
score mark in years, is a record-breaking 
young athlete and the possessor of the rosy 
mental and physical health of the prime of 
youth. Is it any wonder that he should feel 
that in mastication he has found the key to 
the problem of an efficient human machine ? 
Mastication and Mr. Fletcher's willingness 
to be led by his natural appetite have caused 
him to adopt a diet consisting chiefly of nat- 
ural foods, but the emphasis of his teachings 
are devoted almost wholly to mastication, 
with but slight reference to the selection and 
combination of foods. To chew our food is 
natural — ^if we have something to chew on. 



100 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

The conventional cooked diet does not sup- 
ply this. The uncooked or natural diet, in 
addition to its other virtues, does supply it 
and finishes and perfects the theory of 
Fletcherism. 

Had Mr. Fletcher, instead of saying, 
*' Chew your food, if it requires chewing, if 
not, chew it anyhow," changed his slogan 
and said, ^^ Nature made food for teeth and 
teeth for food ; eat natural food and chew it 
because you must," I am confident his most 
excellent work would have had a vastly 
greater influence. 

We grind something in a mill and bolt it, 
roast it, grind it again, predigest it with 
diastase and pepsin, boil it with water, run 
it through a fine sieve, mix it with milk and 
egg and cook it again, dress it with melted 
butter and serve with whipped cream — is it 
not *' rubbing it in " to ask us to pay for all 
this, and then go through a sham process of 
doing over again what isn't there to be done ? 



mastication 101 

Decay of the Teeth 

The destruction of the teeth bears a very 
close relation to the development of the vari- 
ous forms of malnutrition. The two preva- 
lent causes for the loss of human teeth are, 
first, caries (commonly known as decay), 
and, second, pyorrhea alveolaris (commonly 
known as Riggs' disease). 

Caries. The initial cause of caries is de- 
composing food. This produces an acid 
which dissolves out the minute inorganic 
salts of which the tooth is largely formed. 
This exposes the organic portion which lies 
beneath the inorganic part. 

The exposed organic surface becomes de- 
composed, adding to the destructive acid 
which in turn dissolves out more of the in- 
organic salts. This double action may de- 
stroy the entire crown and even the roots. 

Pyorrhea Alveolaris (by which the tooth 
is lost through demolition of its socket) com- 
mences through irritation of the gum tissue 
and peridental membrane. This membrane 



102 SrNCOOKED FOOD 

nourishes the socket and periphery of the 
root and attaches the root to its socket. 

Calcareous deposits from the saliva and 
from the serum of the blood (exuded from 
the inner surface of inflamed gum tissue, 
added to which is more or less organic mat- 
ter from the mouth) combine to form pyor- 
rhea deposits, which press against the ex- 
posed margin of the peridental membrane, 
inflaming and gradually destroying it. 
Thereupon, that portion of the socket breaks 
down to the point of destruction of the nour- 
ishing membrane. As the socket disappears 
it leaves a space or pocket between the gum 
and the root. The gum becomes inflamed 
and lax, and the root becomes covered with 
a tenacious deposit, most difficult to remove, 
and sometimes almost inaccessible. The dis- 
ease continues till none of the socket is left, 
when the loosened tooth can be picked out 
with the fingers. 

Riggs' disease is frequently not recog- 
nized until a tooth has commenced to be 
loose, as there is little or no pain attending 



MASTICATION 103 

it during the early stages. Under all con- 
ditions this trouble can be prevented by 
more or less frequent instrumentation. It 
is, therefore, most important, under the 
present methods of living, that periodic 
visits be made to some dental practitioner, 
competent to successfully cope with such 
disorders. 

When the saliva of the civilized man is 
compared with that of the savage, the latter, 
like that of animals in their natural state, is 
found to be in reaction decidedly alkaline; 
while our saliva and that of pet animals in 
confinement, and fed on prepared food, is 
weak alkaline, occasionally reaching an acid 
reaction, while the mucous secretion of the 
mouth is often thick and of acid tendency. 
It is a fact that alkaline saliva unites with 
normal mucous secretions so as to retard de- 
composition and neutralize acid. This dif- 
ference has been found to be due to different 
conditions of saliva. 

Summing up thus far, we find that the 
condition of the fluids of the mouth has 



104 SrNCOOKED FOOD 

rQuch to do with preserving teeth from 
decay. 

Peevention of Eiggs' Disease. Chemical 
analysis of saliva shows it to contain alka- 
line salts in solution. Alkaline salts are in- 
soluble in acid. Therefore, should the saliva 
by any means become acid in reaction, these 
salts would become insoluble and be precipi- 
tated or deposited. On rare occasions this 
occurs in a gland or duct, and then some- 
times causes serious trouble. 

A large percentage of cooked foods con- 
tain waste material, and in order to secure 
the required nourishment the digestive tract 
is overtaxed, producing unconscious and in- 
voluntary mental and physical effort which 
the individual does not realize. Added to 
this is a tendency toward decomposition in 
the alimentary canal, which, to a degree, con- 
taminates the entire system and influences 
the character of the various secretions, in- 
cluding the saliva. It also tends to debase 
the vital standard of all the tissues, particu- 
larly those about the dental organ — ^the 
teeth — ^rendering the peridental membrane 



MASTiCATio:Kr 105 

and gum less resisting to irritation. Many- 
cooked foods, also, have an undue tendency 
to cling to the teeth. 

The quality, quantity and kinds of food 
place an individual at a decided mental 
advantage or disadvantage. Meat, which is 
usually under the process of decomposition 
when eaten, tends to induce uric acid in the 
system. Animal food is no longer consid- 
ered necessary for physical strength. 
Shreds of tissue from cooked meats often 
become wedged between the teeth, injure the 
gum, and produce gingivitis, which is a pre- 
cursor to pyorrhea alveolaris. 

We should partake of our food in a cheer- 
ful, meditative and tranquil mental condi- 
tion ; we will then masticate naturally. We 
should exercise the same rational care to 
protect our health that we employ to protect 
our business. 

The only excuse nature offers to man for 
creating him is that she gives him liberty 
and the means of securing his happiness and 
contentment. Yet nearly ever3rthing he does 
with reference to his physical structure 



106 SrNCOOKED FOOD 

seems to be especially designed to defeat this 
purpose. 

There is a great deal of pleasure to be 
gained from eating, but when our highly 
civilized man comes to perform this very im- 
portant function, he shovels in the proven- 
der with one hand while he makes out a 
mortgage or figures interest with the other. 
The result is that he gets no happiness from 
the interest, but a great deal of unhappiness 
from the provender; and stands at the age 
of forty dejected and defeated. Half the 
amount of study bestowed upon himself and 
the inexorable laws of nature that he has 
given to the foibles of fashion or the fight 
for gold, would have given him health and 
abundant vitality up to and even beyond the 
century mark. 

In old age, that time of life when selfish 
ambition and strife is ended, we stand be- 
fore our fellows with accumulated knowl- 
edge and with no purpose to serve except the 
common good. This should be the happiest 
and most valuable period of life. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF NUTRITION 

The secretion of tlie digestive juices is not 
determined, as was formerly believed, by the 
presence of food in the stomach, but by im- 
pulses sent from the brain and other nerve 
centers. 

The presence of food in the digestive or- 
gans is one of the stimuli that cause these 
nerve centers to act, but not the only one. 
Scientists have proved that food introduced 
directly into the stomach without the senses 
of taste, sight or smell, in other words, with- 
out the mental associations that go with nat- 
ural eating, stimulates the secretion of just 
about half the quantity of gastric juice nec- 
essary to its digestion. That this is the case 
in the secretion of saliva any person may 
prove by personal experiment. The natural 
inference is that the other digestive juices 
are likewise controlled, and we readily see 
in this fact the reason why wrong or dis- 



108 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

turbed mental conditions are so potent in 
producing digestive and other bodily dis- 
orders. 

The digestive juices are not only con- 
trolled by mental stimuli as to quantity but 
also as to chemical composition. The mind 
miconsciously takes recognition of the na- 
ture of food through the senses of sight, 
smell and taste, and sends messages all along 
the line ordering the secretion of certain 
quantities of digestive juices containing cer- 
tain proportions of pepsin and hydrochloric 
acid or amylopsin and intestinal alkali. 

There is no more marvelous provision in 
nature. We think it wonderful that a bee 
by instinct can build a mathematically ac- 
curate cell. But the bee always builds that 
cell hexagonal. Could she, at her conve- 
nience and according to surroundings, con- 
struct a triangular, oval, round, square or 
pentagonal cell, she would be an engineer 
rivaling the ability of the instinctive chem- 
ist that resides in the alimentary nerve 
centers. 



PSYCHOLOGY OF NUTRITION" 109 

By this wonderful adaptation the man or 
animal living on natural food is abundantly 
protected against the ills of indigestion, but 
for civilized man the food manufacturer 
and the cook stove have spoiled all this. 
Man's instinct was evolved to tell peas from 
peaches and eggs from apricots, but, alas, 
for the digestive instinct when the owner 
sits at the Delmonico or Sherry board. Be- 
side him stands a bowing, smirking waiter, 
who hands him a cardboard. '' Ris-de-veau, 
Davoust-Jambon Porte, Maillot- Escargo, 
Bourguignonne '' meets his eye. The diges- 
tive instinct is a stranger in a foreign land. 
It does not read the language. The man is 
puzzled — the waiter suggests, '' Try some 
Lobster in Casserole Bourgeoise." *^ All 
right,'' replies the man, and the waiter goes 
to the manufacturing department. 

The man's gaze wanders over the room; 
his eye catches a bunch of celery on his 
neighbor's table. The digestive instinct can 
understand that language and it manufac- 
tures juices for celery. The waiter arrives, 



110 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

tlie compound is served, its smell and taste 
are strange to the digestive instinct, but the 
man forces it down and orders Poires Mar- 
quise, Bombe Shah de Perse and Cafe Par- 
fait. Then he drinks a Parfe d 'amour, 
smokes a Manuel Garcia Came il Faut, and 
goes his way. 

Presently the captain of finance receives 
inside information that something is wrong. 
The celery juice is wrestling with the rustic 
lobster, and the crustacean is getting the best 
of it. That evening he goes to his physician, 
who prescribes nux vomica and sodium bi- 
carbonate. This is too much for the instinct 
of digestion, and she follows the way of the 
cave bear and the three-toed horse, leaving 
the field clear for the ^^ higher '' things of 
modern civilization. 

Not only is the digestive instinct a skilled 
chemist, but a master mechanic as well. The 
reader has no doubt noticed the '' lumps " 
pass down the throat of a horse or cow as the 
animal drank water or swallowed food. This 
wave-like motion is known as peristalsis, 



PSYCHOLOGY OF NUTRITION 111 

and is active throughout the whole length of 
the alimentary canal. Upon this motion all 
digestive processes are dependent, for the 
food in process of digestion must be moved 
along to bring it at the proper interval into 
the region, when it will be supplied with 
new digestive ferments and the digestive 
products be normally absorbed. If the 
peristaltic action is deficient or delayed, the 
waste products of digestion will remain too 
long in the alimentary canal causing consti- 
pation and decomposition. 

On the other hand, if food passes through 
the body too rapidly, as in the case where, 
by the administration of purgatives, the 
peristaltic action is stimulated to an abnor- 
mal degree, food material may pass out of 
the body before digestion is anywhere near 
complete. This results in plain starvation, 
and accounts for the rapid loss of weight in 
the case of chronic dysentery and similar 
diseases. 



112 suncooked food 

Some Revelations of the X-Ray 

Some interesting experiments have re- 
cently been made upon cats (this animal be- 
ing immune to the harmful influence of the 
X-rays) that have thrown much light upon 
the relation of the mind to the digestive 
processes. The cat is allowed to become 
very hungry, and is then given food charged 
with bismuth subnitrate. This is an insol- 
uble and harmless salt that has little effect 
upon digestion, but which is opaque to the 
X-ray. When the X-ray shadow of the 
'' bismuth cat " is thrown upon the fluores- 
cent screen, the motions of the alimentary 
canal are plainly visible. 

After the cat has become reconciled to the 
experimental environment, it becomes pos- 
sible to study the effects of the mental states 
upon the movements of digestion. Peris- 
taltic action is found to be almost wholly de- 
pendent upon the mental attitude ; when the 
cat is annoyed or frightened the movement 
becomes irregular, and if the condition is 



PSYCHOLOGY OF NUTRITION 113 

prolonged it ceases entirely. Anger, fear 
and unpleasant emotions interfere with di- 
gestion, while quiet, rest, sleep and mental 
tranquillity are invariably accompanied by 
normal and regular digestive movements. 

The discovery of the adaptation of the 
digestive processes to the food, by means of 
mental impulses, throws more light upon the 
present prevalency of disease than any dis- 
covery of modern science. Knowing these 
facts, reason would at once tell us that we 
should partake of food only in its natural 
state, and in such combinations, and in such 
a manner that the senses can take full cog- 
nizance of what is offered as food, and dic- 
tate by appetite how much is to be eaten. 

Mr. Fletcher says, '' Taste your food." 
That is part of it — a big part. In addition, 
I would say, ^' See your food, smell your 
food, and think of your food as being for 
your body's best nourishment and good." 
In addition to this, eat only when you are 
hungry, when your mind is occupied with 
light and pleasant thoughts, and free from 



114 SU:NrCOOKED FOOD 

worry of every kind. If you are worried or 
overworked, do not eat, or if tlie period of 
this condition is too long, select foods that 
are readily soluble, and partake of very lim- 
ited quantities. 

The writer has a friend who is an engi- 
neer. The nature of his work is such that 
he is occasionally kept at severe mental ac- 
tion for as much as thirt3^-six hours at a 
time. During such times the company is in 
the habit of serving regular meals to the men 
every six hours. My friend had been accus- 
tomed to eat these meals, and after each 
period of over-time w^ork had suffered a se- 
vere attack of indigestion. I recommended 
that he cease eating, or partake only of 
small quantities of certain readily soluble 
foods during such periods. He found under 
this system that he could work thirty-six 
hours without sleep, and feel none the worse 
for the experience. The food he had taken 
while under the mental strain of continuous 
work had undergone a process of fermenta- 
tion and premature decay, and had poisoned 
instead of nourishing him. 



PSYCHOLOGY OF NUTRITION 115 

So great is the mental influence upon nu- 
trition that many who have had their atten- 
tion called to this subject have cured them- 
selves of various disorders by simply cor- 
recting the mental errors in their nutrition. 
The errors of wrong food selection and 
wrong mental processes during digestion are 
very closely related. Natural foods suggest 
a correct mental attitude, and give the in- 
stincts of digestion a chance to work. 

The psychology of nutrition is a new sub- 
ject of which we have much to learn. When 
we have learned, we shall accord both reason 
and instinct their proper spheres of action, 
and the inharmonies that now tend to de- 
stroy both body and mind can no longer be. 



THE CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES OP 
FOODS 

Carbohydrates 

The word carbohydrate means carbon 
combined with water, i. e., the element car- 
bon-is combined with hydrogen and oxygen, 
which exist in the carbohydrate compound 
in the same proportion as they exist in 
water. 

Carbohydrates are closely related chemi- 
cally to alcohols, so far as their composition 
is concerned, but this does not imply that 
they have the same physiological effect in 
the animal body. 

Carbohydrates are divided by the chemist 
into three classes, known as Monosaccharids, 
Disaccharids and Polysaccharids. The 
principal carbohydrates found in foods are 
given in the table below: 



Monosaccharids. 


Disaccharids. 


Polysaccharids. 


Pentoses, 


Cane Sugar, 


starch. 


Glucose or Grape 


Lactose, 


Glycogin, 


Sugar, 


Maltose. 


Gums, 


Levulose, 




Cellulose. 


Galactose. 







CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES OP FOODS 117 

Pentoses have in the past been neglected 
by the food chemist. They exist in the 
coarse parts of plants, such as stalks and 
leaves; hence the carbohydrates of green 
plants contain a percentage of these pen- 
toses. Pentoses are never separated from 
the plant as are other sugars; therefore we 
may consider their physiological eifect in 
the particular plan rather than study them 
as separate food materials. 

Glucose, or " grape sugar," is the most 
important sugar known, from the stand- 
pomt of the physiological chemist. This 
sugar is normally found in considerable 
quantities in human blood, and is absolutely 
essential to the life process. The real use of 
glucose forms an amusing contrast with the 
popular conception of the term " glucose " 
as something injurious or poisonous. 

Glucose is found in nature in all fruits 
and also in honey. It may be taken into the 
human body directly from such fruits or it 
may be formed in the body by the digestion 
of other carbohydrates. It is the most 
wholesome of all sugars. 



118 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

Levulose is the companion sugar of glu- 
cose, and exists in many fruits. Levulose is 
often called '' fruit sugar." The composi- 
tion of levulose is exactly the same as glu- 
cose ; the difference between these sugars is 
due to the different ways in which the atoms 
are combined. The elements exist in the 
same proportion, but the atoms are arranged 
differently. Levulose, for all practical pur- 
poses, may be considered as equal to glucose 
in the human body. It is sweeter than glu- 
cose, resembling cane sugar in point of taste. 

Galactose, which is of the same composi- 
tion as the above, is another companion 
sugar to the first mentioned, and is formed 
by the digestion of lactose or milk sugar. 

Just as there are three monosaccharid 
sugars with six carbon atoms each, there are 
three disaccharid sugars of interest to us, 
which have twelve carbon atoms each. The 
first of these is the ordinary commercial 
sugar made from cane or beets, the sugar 
from both sources being identical from a 
chemical standpoint. This sugar, when di- 



CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES OF FOODS 119 

gested in the human alimentary canal, or by 
artificial means, combines with water and 
forms glucose and levulose. 

The second is lactose, or milk sugar. Milk 
has about 5 per cent of this sugar, but would 
taste sweeter with as much cane sugar, for 
all sugars do not affect the sense of taste to 
the same degree. When lactose is digested, 
it, like cane sugar, combines with water, but 
instead of yielding glucose and levulose, 
yields glucose and galactose. 

Maltose is the third member of the di- 
saccharid group, and is of the same composi- 
tion as the other two. Maltose derives its 
name from malt. It is formed from the 
starch of grains by the process of malting. 
Maltose can be further decomposed into 
monosaccharid sugars just as may cane 
sugars, but instead of forming two separate 
simple sugars, it is wholly converted into 
glucose. Maltose does not exist in man's 
natural bill of fare. 

Starch. The proportion of the elements 
in starch is the same as in sugar, but the 



120 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

numoer of atoms that are combined is many 
times greater and is not accurately known. 
This is purely a theoretical consideration 
and of no practical interest, except that it 
shows that the polysaccharid is capable of 
being digested or broken up into many 
simple carbohydrate compounds. 

Starch is the most abundant carbohydrate 
known. It is the chief constituent of all 
grains, and is found in large quantities in 
green fruits and tuberous plants. Common 
potatoes are composed chiefly of starch and 
water. Starch does not dissolve in water as 
do sugars. 

Starch occurs m small grains or granules. 
These starch grains may be seen under a 
magnifying glass ; in fact, the starch grains 
of potatoes can almost be distinguished with 
the naked eye. They are not atoms or mole- 
cules in the chemical sense, but are little 
masses in which starch has been deposited 
as it is formed in the growing plant. When 
boiled, these starch strains, which in the cold 
state are hard, solid particles, swell into a 



CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES OF FOODS 121 

mushy or gelatinous mass, which forms 
starch paste. When starch is heated dry 
until it begins to brown it is changed into a 
compound related to the gum group, known 
as dextrine. 

If starch is treated with digestive fluids, 
as saliva, or with certain acids, it goes 
through a complex process of digestion in 
which it is first turned into soluble starch, 
then into the various forms of dextrine or 
gums, and finally into maltose or the malt 
sugar which we have already studied. 

As we have noted that maltose may be 
changed by digestion into glucose, we see 
how the starch in foods may be converted 
into the glucose of the blood. Just as glu- 
cose may be formed from starch, so maltose 
may be made by treating starch with malt. 
The brewing of beer depends upon chemical 
changes induced in starch by malt. Barley 
is ordinarily used for this purpose. The 
barley is sprouted in a warm, damp room, 
and a process of starch disrestion begins, 
which is necessary in order that the young 



122 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

barley sprouts may grow. This changes the 
starch into maltose. The digestive principle 
developed in the barley malt may be utilized 
to malt other grain by mixing them with the 
sprouted barley. 

If this process of malting is arrested at 
the proper time, and the sugar dissolved and 
extracted, a product is formed consisting 
chiefly of the sugar maltose. This is the 
basis of malt extract, malt honey, and many 
similar foods put on the market which are 
claimed by the manufacturers to have won- 
derful dietetic and curative values; but as 
there is no malt sugar in natural foods, and 
man's digestive apparatus has not been 
equipped to deal with it, the opposite conclu- 
sion would seem more rational, and in the 
light of the writer's experience is nearer the 
truth. 

Glycogin is commonly called animal 
starch. It exists in the liver in small quan- 
tities. All carbohydrates are digested in the 
alimentary canal and absorbed in the blood 
in the form of simple sugars of the glucose 



CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES OF FOODS 123 

group. When these sugars reach the liver 
they are again built up into a complex car- 
bohydrate very similar to starch in composi- 
tion. This glycogin or animal starch is 
stored in the liver until the body has need of 
it, when it is changed back into glucose. 

The gums include a group of rather com- 
plex carbohydrates which are intermediate 
between starches and sugars. There are 
many varieties of gums derived from plants 
and which have various commercial uses in 
the market, such as gum arable. The basis 
of ordinary chewing gum is not true gum, 
but is a petroleum product which is wholly 
indigestible. 

Dextrine, of which we have already 
spoken, is formed from starch. Dextrine 
has no dietetic qualities that do not exist in 
starch, and, as with maltose, it comes into 
the digestive apparatus in a form not found 
in nature, and hence one for which no diges- 
tive adaptation exists. 

Pectins are a group of gummy substances 
found in fruits, especially green fruits, and 



124 SIJNCOOKED FOOD 

are in process of being formed into sugar. 
The pectins form the basis of fruit jellies. 
Green grapes, as every housewife knows, 
will make better jelly than ripe grapes. 
This is because the pectins in ripe grapes 
have been transformed into sugar. As 
fruits when eaten green are prone to cause 
digestive disorders, it would seem the better 
part of wisdom to allow nature to complete 
her digestive process and take all fruits in 
the ripened state. 

Cellulose is, from the standpoint of hu- 
man feeding, not a food product. Cellulose 
is practically indigestible by the juices of 
the human alimentary tract. An example 
of pure cellulose is cotton fiber. Wood is al- 
most pure cellulose. The bran of wheat or 
corn is chiefly cellulose. Cellulose can be 
digested by strong acids into simple carbo- 
hydrates. Sugar can be thus manufactured 
from wood or rags, but the process is now 
too expensive to be applied commercially. 
Some of us may live to see the time when the 
chief food of mankind will be manufactured 
from scrap lumber and waste paper. 



CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES OF FOODS 125 

All plant products in their natural state 
contain some cellulose, though the percent- 
age is very small in such articles as rice. 
Cellulose is valuable chiefly for its mechan- 
ical action in the digestive organs. Bacteria 
have the power of digesting cellulose. The 
bacterial action or fermentation in the hu- 
man intestine may cause a slight amount of 
cellulose to be digested, but this is of no con- 
sequence from the nutritive standpoint, and 
is rather to be avoided than desired. Graz- 
ing animals have considerable power to di- 
gest cellulose. Goats, especially, have this 
power well developed. The goat who break- 
fasts off of the clothes-line is no more per- 
verted in his appetite than the man who 
breakfasts on buttered toast. 

Fats and Oils 

The fats and oils in food products, 
whether of plant or animal origin, contain 
the elements — carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. 
These fats are formed by a combination of 
the fatty acids with the substance glycerin. 



126 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

which belongs to the alcohol group. Stearin, 
palmitin, olein, butyrin, are the more com- 
mon food fats. 

Natural fat from any source will usually 
contain several of these chemical com- 
pounds. The ordinary animal fats, such as 
tallow or lard, are formed chiefly of the two 
fats, stearin and olein. The different pro- 
portions of these fats will determine the 
melting point or hardness of the mixed prod- 
uct. Olein is a liquid at ordinary tempera- 
ture, while stearin is solid. The reason that 
tallow is a firmer fat than lard or butter, is 
because it contains a larger per cent of 
stearin. 

Olive oil, cotton-seed oil and other vege- 
table oils contain large per cents of olein, 
which accounts for their being liquid at ordi- 
nary temperature. 

Butyrin is a fat found in small quantities 
in dairy butter, and does not exist in the 
cotton-seed oil and other fats from which 
oleomargarine is manufactured. This is the 
reason that artificial butter lacks the flavor 



CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES OF FOODS 127 

of the dairy product, though this is remedied 
to some extent by churning the fats of the 
cotton-seed oil and tallow with fresh cream, 
which imparts a small quantity of the buty- 
rin and similar compounds to the oleomar- 
garine and gives the characteristic flavor of 
butter. 

Besides the more conomon fats that we 
have mentioned, there are many fats that 
exist in certain vegetable oils in small pro- 
portions, and that give them properties 
which may render them unfit for food. 

When fats are heated to a high tempera- 
ture they decompose and form various prod- 
ucts, some of which are irritating and poi- 
sonous to the human system. In the manu- 
facture of packing-house and cotton-seed 
products the stearin is often separated from 
the olein. The granular appearance of pure 
leaf lard is due to crystals of stearin. In 
the packing-house stearin is separated from 
the tallow in large quantities. The stearin is 
used to make candles, etc., while the olein 
is used for food purposes, in this country, 



128 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

in the form of oleomargarine, or some sucli 
cooking product as cottolene, while in Eu- 
rope it is used under its right name as a 
cooking product. It is as wholesome, if not 
more so, than lard. 

Fats may become rancid ; this is a natural 
decomposition of fat due to its uniting with 
the ox3^gen of the air. Nut kernels fre- 
quently become rancid from this cause. 
This can best be prevented by keeping them 
in air-tight packages. 

PROTEmS 

The food substances which contain nitro- 
gen are commonly called proteids, or, if 
these compounds are considered together, 
the name of protein may be given the group. 
This protein is not one single compound, but 
includes all substances which contain the 
element nitrogen in such combinations as 
are available for assimilation in the human 
body. 

Proteids are necessary to the existence of 
animal life. With the exception of fatty 



CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES OF FOODS 129 

tissue, all the organs and tissues of the body 
are composed chiefly of proteid substances. 
These proteid substances in the hiunan body 
can only be formed from proteid substances 
taken in the food, because no other food sub- 
stances contain the element nitrogen and the 
body cannot make elements or change one 
element into another. Neither do the cells 
of the animal body have the power of effect- 
ing a combination of elementary nitrogen 
with the other elements. This power is pos- 
sessed by bacteria that utilize the nitrogen 
of the air to form mineral salts or nitrates. 
Plants, in turn, have the power to unite the 
nitrogen derived from these nitrates with 
carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. In this way 
organic nitrogen or proteids are formed. 
The animal body may digest these plant pro- 
teids and transform them into other forms 
of proteids needed by the animal organism. 

All proteids contain carbon, hydrogen, 
oxygen and nitrogen, most of them sulphur, 
and a few phosphorus. Iron, copper and 
bromide are also occasionally foimd in pro- 

9 



130 STJNCOOKED FOOD 

teid compounds. The percentage by weight 
of the various elements which form the 
average proteid is as follows : 

Carbon 52% 

Hydrogen 7% 

Oxygen 22% 

Nitrogen 16% 

Sulphur 2% 

Phosphorus 1% 

Proteid substances are properly divided 
into three groups as follows : 

Simple Proteids. Compound Proteids. Albuminoids. 

Albumins, Respiratory Pig- Collagen, 

Globulins, ments, Gelatin, 

Nucleoalbumins, Glucoproteids, Elastin, 

Albuminates, Nucleins, Reticulin, 

Coagulated Pro- Nucleoproteids, Keratin, 

teids, Lecithin Albumins. Skeletins. 
Proteoses (Albu- 

moses), 
Peptones. 

Besides these real proteids, there are a 
few substances kno^Ti as amido compounds, 
which exist in small quantities in vegetables 
and a number of nitrogenous substances, 
which exist in meat and meat extracts, and 
which are not true proteids, as they have 



CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES OF FOODS 131 

little or no nutritive value, but act as stimu- 
lants or irritants in the body. 

Another class of nitrogenous substances 
which may be found in food products are 
ptomains. These are formed by the growth 
of bacteria and are in reality the nitrogenous 
waste products of bacterial life. Ptomains 
are apt to develop in meats and dairy prod- 
ucts held in cold storage, and are sometimes 
the cause of serious poisoning. 

Albumin is one of the commonest and 
simplest forms of proteid known ; it is found 
in the white of egg, in milk and in blood. It 
is coagulated by heat and by certain chemi- 
cals, such as acids, alcohol and strong alka- 
lies. Albumin is soluble in water and weak 
solutions of salt, but is not soluble in very 
strong salt solutions. 

Globulins are much like albumin in prop- 
erties, but are not soluble in water. They 
are, however, soluble in dilute salt solutions. 
Globulins exist in considerable quantities in 
the yolk of eggs and in the blood. The 
globulin in the body could not remain in 



132 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

solution if there was not always present a 
small quantity of salt in the blood. There 
are several types of globulins. Pibrinogin 
of the blood, which coagulates when the 
blood is exposed to the air, forming clots, is 
a globulin. Hemoglobulin, which is the 
chief component of red blood corpuscles, 
and which unites with the oxygen in the 
lungs and carries this oxygen to the various 
tissues of the body, is another form of globu- 
lin, and one which contains a considerable 
amount of iron. 

Casein is the most important proteid sub- 
stance in milk and is familiar to all as the 
curd or white substance of clabbered milk. 
A related form of vegetable casein is found 
in leguminous seeds such as beans and peas. 

Proteoses and peptones are forms of pro- 
teids that are formed by the digestion of 
other proteids. They are not found in natu- 
ral food, and the same remarks made re- 
garding maltose and dextrine will apply to 
the use of these substances in the diet. 

The compound proteids which we mention 



CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES OF FOODS 133 

in the table do not need any particular dis- 
cussion, as they form a very small part of 
ordinary foods. 

The albuminoids are proteids formed in 
various portions of the body, and are of a 
more complex nature than are albumin and 
globulins. They are also insoluble and diffi- 
cult of digestion. Keratin is the chief pro- 
teid of the epidermis or outer skin. It is 
comparatively indigestible. Collagen is the 
proteid found in the connecting tissues of 
the body, ligaments, tendons, etc. Skeletin, 
elastin and reticulum are similar products 
which are found in the various tissues of 
animals. None of these products can be con- 
sidered as suitable food materials for man, 
although the stomach has the power of di- 
gesting them to a limited extent. 

Food Salts 

The subject of salt in food has received 
considerable discussion and attention by 
scientific investigators, and many theories 
have been advanced by those interested in 



134 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

hygiene as to the effect of common salt used 
in food. The tissues and organs of the body 
contain certain salts, and without these salts 
life could not exist, but it does not follow, as 
some would interpret, that these salts need 
to be supplied separately from the forms of 
foods produced by nature. Food should not 
be of an artificial nature, such as would free 
it entirely from its mineral salts. A diet of 
sugar, pure oil and artificially prepared pro- 
teids would absolutely fail to nourish the 
body for any length of time, because of the 
lack of mineral salts. All natural food 
products, whether of vegetable or animal 
origin, contain a small but ever-present pro- 
portion of mineral salts. This is especially 
true of mill^, eggs and the seeds and green 
portion of plants. The amount of salts in 
the human body is considerable, especially 
the calcium phosphates of the bones, but the 
amount of such salts that need be supplied 
daily in food is small because they are not 
consumed as rapidly as are the other ele- 
ments of nutrition. 



CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES OF FOODS 135 

Several foods, especially rice and corn, 
are somewhat deficient in salts. At one of 
our experiment stations some pigs were fed 
exclusively on corn diet, and others on a diet 
of grain and green forage. At a certain age 
the pigs were killed and the bones were 
weighed and tested for strength. The bones 
of the pigs which had been on a corn diet, 
which is deficient in mineral salts, were 
about half as heavy and strong as the bones 
of the pigs fed in a more natural way. 

Watek 

The human body contains about 60 per 
cent water. The water in the body might 
be roughly grouped into three divisions. 
First, water in small quantities enters into 
the actual chemical composition of the body. 
As we noticed, in the discussion of carbohy- 
drates, water combines chemically with cane 
sugar when it is digested and transformed 
into glucose. 

The second use of water in the body is to 
form a portion of the tissues and to act as a 



136 STJNCOOKED FOOD 

solvent in the bodily fluids. In this function 
the water is not changed chemically, but is 
only mixed with other substances ; thus the 
blood is in reality water with glucose, pep- 
tone, etc., in solution and carrying along red 
blood corpuscles, fatty globules and other 
particles. A third use of water in the body 
is in the control of the temperature by means 
of perspiration, the evaporation of which 
has a cooling tendency. 

Theories have been promulgated by hy- 
gienic teachers in the last few years, claim- 
ing that man should get his supply of water 
wholly from the juices of fruits and not 
drink ground waters, which are contami- 
nated with mineral substances. While it 
may be true that water in certain localities, 
such as the alkali deserts and limestone hills, 
is unfit for drinking, yet the writer is of the 
opinion that the promulgator of the theory 
that man is not a drinking animal has never 
done a hard day's work in a Western harvest 
field. In the drying winds of the Western 
plains water evaporates from the surface of 



CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES OF FOODS 137 

a man's body at the rate of 12 to 15 pounds 
a day. The theory of deriving one's water 
wholly from fruits and salads would not 
stand the test of such facts. 

The best drinking water is rain water. 
Distilled and aerated waters, which are so 
abundantly manufactured by artificial proc- 
esses, are mere imitations of nature's meth- 
od of producing rain water. Science, how- 
ever, has never proved that the small quan- 
tities of salts contained in normal ground 
water are of any injury to the human 
organism. 



THE CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTION 

The digestive juices of the human body 
are five in number, namely, saliva, gastric 
juice, bile, pancreatic juice and intestinal 
juiice. These five juices are secreted from 
the blood by special cells or glands. Each of 
these juices contains one or more enzymes 
or digestive principles. These enz}Tnes are 
highly organized chemical compounds which 
have the property of changing other chemi- 
cal compounds without being destroyed or 
used up themselves except in minute 
quantities. 

Malt, which is produced by the sprouting 
of barley, is a true digestive enzyme of the 
barley. Thus we see that plants, as well as 
animals, may have enzymes. The yeast cells 
that cause the fermentation of bread are 
minute plants which secrete an enzyme 
which causes the effect noted. It was for- 
merly thought that the fermentation of 



CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTION 139 

yeast could not take place except in the pres- 
ence of a living ceU. This has now been dis- 
proved, as a German scientist has succeeded 
in grinding up yeast cells and filtering off 
the chemical compound or true enzyme 
which causes the fermentation of sugar. 

It is now recognized by scientists that all 
processes of fermentation and digestion 
that are found in plant and animal life are 
due to definite chemical compounds known 
as enzymes. The action of digestion is then 
a truly chemical one, and could take place 
without the body as well as within, if we 
could manufacture the proper enzyme and 
produce the exact conditions of temperature, 
moisture, etc., that are found in the human 
alimentary canal. 

The manufacture of predigested food de- 
pends upon various processes of fermenta- 
tion or digestion that may be carried on by 
inorganic chemical agents, such as acids, or 
by ferments of bacteria or other forms of 
life. The malting of starch for the produc- 
tion of malt sugar, or fermented liquors, or 



140 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

the making of cheese by the action of the 
enzyme rennet, which has been extracted 
from the stomach of a calf, are examples of 
artificial digestion. 

A great amount of discussion has been 
raised over the subject of predigested food. 
To answer the question intelligently, we 
must consider the chemical process involved 
in each case and the final product, both as to 
its mechanical and chemical condition. If a 
product is formed which is the natural food 
of man, the process is good ; otherwise it is 
wrong. 

With this diversion, to illustrate the 
breadth and importance of the action of en- 
zymes, we will again consider the chemical 
action of the human digestive organs. 

The saliva is the digestive juice of the 
mouth. It is secreted by three pairs of 
salivary glands. The secretions from these 
three glands are slightly different in compo- 
sition, but for our purpose may be consid- 
ered as one. The saliva is an alkaline fluid, 
and the digestive principle that it contains 



CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTION 141 

is a starch-digesting enzyme known as 
ptyalin. 

The further functions of the saliva are to 
moisten food and facilitate swallowing. 

Digestion in the Stomach 
The importance of the stomach as an 
organ of digestion has been over estimated 
in modern times. In fact, from the discus- 
sions in the average text-book on physiology 
one would be led to believe that the stomach 
was the only organ of digestion, when, as a 
matter of fact, the chief purpose of the 
stomach is that of a receptacle for the stor- 
age and preparation of food for digestion 
later. Pood passes through one process of 
digestion or preparation, but is not com- 
pleted in the stomach; and all foods which 
are acted upon by the gastric juice can also 
be digested in the intestines. This has been 
proved by the fact that surgeons have suc- 
cessfully removed the stomach from both 
animals and men without seriously interfer- 
ing with the nutrition of the body. 



142 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

The stomach should be considered as a 
preliminary organ of digestion. The tables 
published in the physiologies giving the di- 
gestibility of various foods as requiring so 
many hours, refer to the length of time it 
takes for the food to pass out of the stomach. 
According to these tables boiled rice is given 
as one of the most digestible of foods. The 
reason why rice passes out of the stomach 
more quickly than other grains is because it 
contains practically nothing but starch ; and 
as starch is not digested in the stomach, rice 
is passed on to the intestine much more 
rapidly than other foods which contain a 
larger per cent of protein, which goes 
through a longer process of stomach diges- 
tion. 

In this connection it becomes necessary to 
refer to the interpretation of the experi- 
mental results obtained by investigators at 
the Battle Creek Sanitarium. In these ex- 
periments cereal products which had been 
put through various processes of prediges- 
tion were compared with uncooked whole 



CHtiJMISTRY OF DIGESTION 143 

wheat, the contents being artificially re- 
moved from the stomach by lavage after a 
given period of time. The results of this 
experiment showed a greater amount of 
starch digestion in the case of dextrinized or 
supercooked foods. These results were pub- 
lished as proof that starchy foods should be 
put through a process of predigestion by 
heat. To those who are not familiar with 
food chemistry, such results would appear 
very convincing, but to a practical food 
scientist, they only show how misinterpreta- 
tion of scientific facts can be made to indi- 
cate just the opposite conclusions from the 
truth. 

Starchy foods are not intended by nature 
to be digested in the stomach, but in the in- 
testines, and the processes of partial diges- 
tion of these foods before entering the stom- 
ach only serve to interfere with nature's 
plan and deprive both the stomach and intes- 
tines of their natural functions. To charge 
that these theories might have emanated 
from such an institution through ignorance 



144 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

would be no more severe than to say they 
might have been promulgated to sell zwie- 
back and crackers. 

The gastric juice contains three principal 
enzymes or digestive principles. These are 
hydrochloric acid, pepsin and rennet. The 
hydrochloric acid and the pepsin are se- 
creted by different cells, and could be con- 
sidered as separate digestive juices, but as 
the action of one is dependent upon the 
other, we will consider these actions as one. 
Pepsin in the presence of hydrochloric acid 
acts upon proteids and changes them into 
proteoses and peptone. Comparatively lit- 
tle food is completely peptonized in gastric 
digestion. Proteoses are intermediate prod- 
ucts between food proteids and peptone, be- 
ing the principal product of the action of 
the gastric juice. Thus it is seen that this 
stomach action is only preparatory for the 
digestive processes of the intestines. The 
gastric juice does not act upon fat, but in 
the case of animal food, in which the mem- 
branes that enclose the fat cells are formed 



CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTION 145 

of proteid material, the gastric juice sets the 
fat globules free by dissolving these enclos- 
ing membranes. The chief action of hydro- 
chloric acid in the stomach is to aid the 
action of the pepsin. Pepsin alone has no 
digestive powers. There are no other acids 
produced by the secretive glands of the 
stomach wall. If other acids are found in 
the contents of the stomach, it is because 
they have been taken in the food or are pro- 
duced by abnormal fermentation. 

The hydrochloric acid of the stomach is 
formed from the sodium chloride or com- 
mon salt of the blood. The secreting cells of 
the stomach glands are thought to have the 
power to form hydrochloric acid by uniting 
the chlorine of salt with the hydrogen of 
water. This is a very unusual chemical 
process, and has not yet been successfully 
produced in a laboratory. 

One of the chief functions of hydrochloric 
acids in the stomach is that of an antiseptic 
or germicidal fluid. Not all bacteria are 
killed by this fluid, however, for some germs 

10 



146 STJNCOOKED FOOD 

can live in an acid medium while others may 
live best in an alkaline solution. The alter- 
nation of digestive juices from alkali to acid 
may be considered as a provision of nature 
to destroy bacteria and enzymes of plant and 
animal origin that are taken into the diges- 
tive tract with food. This adds another rea- 
son to those already mentioned why foods 
should be thoroughly masticated. By such 
provision nature attempts to provide for the 
digestion of food only by such enzymes and 
ferments as will produce a finished product 
wholly suited to the particular requirement 
of the body. When we attempt by artificial 
processes to digest our food with other en- 
zymes than those of our own digestive or- 
gans, or take into the stomach large quanti- 
ties of food without proper mastication, 
which allows foreign or abnormal fermenta- 
tion to take place, we may expect, as a natu- 
ral result, that the nutritive material sup- 
plied to our tissues will not be perfectly 
adapted to the needs of human cell growth, 
and consequent derangement of the bodily 
fimctions takes Dlace. 



CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTION" 147 

The rennet of the gastric juice is princi- 
pally concerned with the digestion of milk ; 
other than this, it has no particular function. 

The problem of why the stomach does not 
digest itself has puzzled scientists for many 
years. The investigations of the twentieth 
century have at last solved this fascinating 
question. The walls of the human stomach 
are composed of proteid material, and 
should be dissolved by the gastric juice ac- 
cording to all known chemical laws. The 
explanation formerly given was that the 
stomach did not digest itself because it was 
alive. This was begging the question. 

There has lately been discovered an en- 
zyme that is secreted by the cells in the 
stomach wall, which is known as antipepsin. 
This antipepsin destroys the action of the 
pepsin and prevents the action of the pepsin 
upon the stomach wall itself. Were anti- 
pepsin secreted in sufficiently large quanti- 
ties to mix with the food in the stomach cav- 
ity, no digestion could take place. The pres- 
ence of this antipepsin in the stomach walls 



148 STJNCOOKED FOOD 

has been proved in the following manner: 
The arteries leading to a portion of the stom- 
ach wall in a dog were severed, so that this 
portion received no blood supply and could 
not form the usual amount of antipepsin. 
The secretion of pepsin went on in the re- 
mainder of the dog's stomach and digested 
the portion of the stomach wall which was 
receiving no blood supply, and hence secret- 
ing no antipepsin. 

Intestinal Digestion 

Bile. The bile is a juice secreted by the 
liver. It enters the small intestines a few 
inches below the stomach. One function of 
the bile is to facilitate the digestion of fat, 
for when the bile is partly excluded from 
the digestive tract, the fats are not so com- 
pletely absorbed. Bile is not an important 
digestive fluid. In fact, bile is chiefly a 
waste product, which is secreted into the ali- 
mentary canal, and thus passes from the 
body. 



CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTION 149 

Pancreatic Juice. The secretion of the 
pancreas contains important enzymes; one 
acts upon starch, one upon proteids, and one 
is a fat-splitting enzyme. Pancreatic juice 
also has the power of coagulating milk, and 
is believed to contain some rennet. The pan- 
creas is a secretive gland located entirely 
outside the intestinal walls, and produces a 
juice, which is poured into the small intes- 
tines at the same point at which the bile 
enters. Pancreatic juice is strongly alka- 
line, and as soon as the food coming from 
the stomach comes in contact with the pan- 
creatic juice and bile, the acid is neutralized, 
and the material becomes strongly alkaline. 

The starch-digesting enzyme is called 
amylopsin. It appears to be very similar to 
ptyalin in its power to digest carbohydrates. 
This am^ylopsin completes the digestion of 
starch that was begun by the saliva. It acts 
upon starch with great activity. One part 
of amylopsin can change 40,000 times its 
bulk of starch to glucose. This can act only 
in alkaline solution, and if any abnormal 



150 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

fermentation takes place in the digestive 
tract, producing a large quantity of acids, 
the digestion of starch is stopped. It is in- 
teresting to note that this enzyme is entirely 
absent from the pancreatic juice of infants. 
This explains why infants cannot digest 
starch. 

The second enzyme to be considered in 
the pancreatic juice is trypsin. This is a 
substance distinct from pepsin, but its 
action is the same. The chief distinction is 
that trypsin acts in an alkaline solution, 
while pepsin acts in an acid solution. 
Trypsin is much more energetic in its diges- 
tive power than the pepsin of gastric juice. 
It completes the digestion of proteids that is 
begun in the stomach and converts all pro- 
teids into soluble forms. A number of forms 
of proteid that are not acted upon at all by 
the gastric juice are readily digested by the 
trypsin of the pancreatic juice. 

The fat-digesting enzyme of the pancre- 
atic juice is steapsin. This is the principal 
fat-digesting enzyme of the body, fat not 



CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTION 151 

being affected by the juices of the stomach. 
This substance has power to split fats, that 
is, to convert them into the fatty acids and 
glycerine of which they were originally com- 
posed. This fatty acid then combines with 
alkalies of the bile and pancreatic juice to 
form soap. Soap is soluble and passes 
through the walls of the small intestines in 
this form. Having passed through the walls 
of the intestines, this soap is again changed 
into fat. The reason that nature provided 
such a complex process for the absorption of 
fat is because fat is insoluble. If the intes- 
tinal walls were constructed so that fat 
globules could be taken directly through 
them, they would also be open for the en- 
trance of germs and other foreign particles. 
Frying foods in grease causes a thin film 
of melted fat to spread over the surface of 
the starch of proteid particles, with the result 
that these particles cannot be properly acted 
upon by the saliva and gastric juice, and as 
a result do not receive the preliminary 
changes necessary to normal digestion. Fat, 



152 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

taken m its natural form, does not interfere 
with other digestive processes. 

Intestinal Juices. In addition to the 
digestive juices that are poured into the 
small intestines from the pancreas and the 
liver, there is a juice which is secreted from 
the walls of the intestinal cells. This is 
called intestinal juice or succus entericus. 
It is a light-yellow fluid with a strong alka- 
line reaction due to the presence of sodium 
carbonate. 

One action of intestinal juice is to change 
cane sugar and maltose into glucose, which 
is then absorbed directly into the blood. 

The Secretion of Digestive Juices. 
Within the last few years many remarkable 
discoveries have been made in regard to the 
secretion of the various digestive juices. 
Until some ten or fifteen years ago it was 
believed that the secretion of digestive 
juices depended simply upon the presence 
of food in the alimentary canal. Recent dis- 
coveries in this branch of physiology are to 
be accredited to a Russian scientist by the 



CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTION 153 

name of Fallow, and his followers and asso- 
ciates. The facts now known regarding this 
part of nature's work are essentially as 
follows : 

The secretion of the various substances 
which make up the digestive fluids of the 
body depend upon two sorts of stimuli. 
First, direct nerve stimulus from the central 
nervous system. Second, the chemical stim- 
ulus upon the walls of the digestive organs. 
Depending upon either or both of these 
sources of stimulation, the digestive juices 
of the body are regulated in quantity, and 
what is much more worthy of note, in their 
actual chemical compositions. 

It will be readily seen how far reaching in 
its effect upon our dietetic treatment and 
practices is this knowledge of the influence 
of various factors upon the composition of 
the digestive fluid. An excellent illustration 
of the practical importance of Fallow's dis- 
coveries concerns the comparative digesti- 
bility of various foods. The former method 
of estimating the digestibility of food was to 



154 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

analyze the foods and also the intestinal resi- 
due, and subtract the undigested remnant of 
each particular class of food element from 
the amount originally present in the food. 
By such means it was possible to show that 
certain foods were, say 80 or 90 per cent 
digestible, as the case might be. No estimate 
was made by this method of the amount of 
material that must be secreted by the body 
in order to digest the particular foods. 

According to the old investigation milk 
and meat are about equally digestible. It is 
now known that the digestion of milk re- 
quires only a small fraction of the energy 
and nitrogen that is necessary in order to 
digest meat or proteid from vegetable 
sources. Thus it will be seen that where it 
is desirable to get a large amount of avail- 
able nitrogen into the system with the least 
possible expenditure of energy, milk is a 
food par excellence. This is a very logical 
idea, and one which we can understand, be- 
cause milk is created for the sole purpose of 
serving as food for animal life. 



CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTION 155 

The amount of acidity in gastric juice re- 
quired to digest meat is far in excess of that 
required for a meal of vegetable substance. 
The amount of acidity is greatest with milk, 
second with meat, and least with bread. The 
strength of the digestive influence of pepsin 
was greatest with bread, second with meat, 
and least with milk ; from this we learn that 
starchy foods are imsuitable for the use of 
those who suffer from supersecretion of hy- 
drochloric acid, for the excess of acid pre- 
vents their digestion by neutralizing the 
alkali of the intestines. 

Saliva secreted for nitrogenous food does 
not contain as much ptyalin as that secreted 
when starchy foods are consumed. For this 
reason the thorough insalivation of starchy 
foods is much more important than that of 
meat, milk, eggs, etc. Dr. Harvey W. Wiley 
has recently advised that meat be swallowed 
in chunks, as is done by carnivorous animals. 
This advice, however, is not altogether 
sound, for the reason that man is not a car- 
nivorous animal, and his gastric juice does 



156 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

not act as rapidly upon flesh foods as does 
that of meat-eating animals. If meat be 
taken into the human stomach either in 
large amounts or in large pieces, decompo- 
sition may set in before digestion has pro- 
ceeded far enough to prevent the action of 
micro-organisms. 

The mental influence upon the secretion 
of digestive fluids may originate from the 
thoughts of the man or may be brought 
about reflexively by the sight or smell of 
food. All are familiar with the experience 
of having one's mouth water at the sight of 
a particularly appetizing dish. Many of us 
have undergone the same experience by 
thinking of some particular food of which 
we are fond, even though there is nothing in 
sight. Scientific investigation has shown 
that the secretion of saliva is only an exam- 
ple of what takes place in the other digestive 
organs. Experiments of the ingenious Rus- 
sian scientist prove that the act of tasting 
and swallowing food is the chief factor in 
determining the secretion of the juices from 



CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTI0:N' 157 

the stomach walls. By skilled surgical op- 
erations the esophagi of dogs were severed 
and made to open externally so that the food 
swallowed by the dog did not pass into the 
stomach. The secretion of gastric juice was 
then determined in the case of different 
foods which were taken into the dog's mouth 
and swallowed, but which did not reach the 
stomach. Not only did this act of pretended 
feeding start a flow of gastric juice, but the 
gastric juice secreted in the case of different 
foods was adapted to the particular food, 
according to the general principle which we 
have already discussed. 

These facts emphasize several important 
considerations regarding our diet. First, 
we should eat slowly and get the whole taste 
out of food by thorough mastication. Sec- 
ond, we should not disguise our foods by 
high seasoning. Third, foods that do not 
require the same digestive principles should 
not be taken together at the same meal. 

Fermentation is the term generally ap- 
plied to changes that take place in such food 



158 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

substances as carbohydrates, due to the 
growth of bacteria, while the term putrefac- 
tion is applied in a similar way to the 
changes taking place in nitrogenous or pro- 
teid materials. 

Abnormal Peocesses in Digestion 

There are changes which take place in the 
human alimentary canal, that are not bene- 
ficial or necessary to normal digestion. The 
cause of the most important abnormal 
changes in the contents of the stomach and 
intestines is the presence of living micro- 
organisms called bacteria. 

Because of the invariable presence of 
greater or less quantities of bacteria within 
the intestines of all ordinary animals, some 
scientists have insisted that their presence 
was in some way necessarily related to the 
life of the animal and was probably bene- 
ficial. 

New-born animals, however, are free from 
bacteria, hence these germs must make their 
way into the alimentary canal with food. 



CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTION 159 

Ingenious scientists have taken new-born 
guinea pigs and kept them in sterile or 
germ-proof compartments, giving them fil- 
tered air to breathe, and absolutely sterile 
foods. These pigs lived and thrived through 
the experiment as their brothers would out- 
side the bacterial-proof dwelling, and this is 
considered as good evidence that bacteria 
accumulate in the digestive organs of all ani- 
mals, not for a purpose connected with ani- 
mal physiology, but in order to digest and 
assimilate foods. Conditions are established 
which are so near those required for bac- 
terial growth that the bacteria take advan- 
tage of the conditions just as weeds, if given 
a chance, thrive in a cultivated field. 

We have already referred to the antiseptic 
or germ-destroying properties of the gastric 
juice and other secretions of the digestive 
organs. This would suggest that the growth 
of bacteria is undesirable growing in the 
human intestines, and hence we cannot say 
with certainty that all this growth is harm- 
ful, as the resulting waste products of each 



160 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

particular species of bacteria would need to 
be considered separately before we could say 
whether or not it acted as a poison. It is 
safe to make the general statement, however, 
that bacteria are abnormal or foreign to the 
human digestive canal, and that their pres- 
ence is detrimental to human welfare. 

Micro-organisms give off as waste prod- 
ucts of their growth various substances, de- 
pendent upon the species of bacteria and the 
material in which they are growing. Thus 
the waste products of the yeast plant are 
carbon dioxide and alcohol. 

In the alimentary canal there exists an 
abundance of carbohydrates and proteid 
material which form excellent food material 
for numerous species of bacteria. The sub- 
stances produced by the growth of these va- 
rious kinds of bacteria are numerous. They 
include the gases, carbon dioxide, hydrogen 
sulphide, hydrogen, marsh gas or methane 
and ammonia. Butyric, lactic and other 
acids are also produced as a product of bac- 
terial fermentation in the intestines, to- 



CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTION 161 

gether with alcohol. Perhaps the most det- 
rimental of all are the substances produced 
by the bacterial putrefaction of proteids of 
which indol and skatol are the two most 
important. 

Under ordinary conditions the bacteria 
themselves do not penetrate the intestinal 
walls, and their evil influence would be con- 
fined to mechanical disturbance of gas in 
the digestive organs and to the destruction 
of a portion of the nutritive material of 
food, were it not for the fact that these 
harmful and poisonous products we have 
mentioned are soluble, and hence pass 
through the intestinal walls with the di- 
gested food material into the blood, and are 
thus distributed throughout the entire body. 

It has been observed in the presence of 
intestinal congestion, where the food re- 
mains in the intestines over nature's time 
limit, that the amount of these harmful 
nitrogenous decomposition products that are 
excreted by the kidneys is considerably in- 
creased, proving that these products have 
circulated throughout the body. 
11 



162 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

Arterial sclerosis, or the hardening of the 
walls of the arteries, which is one of the 
principal causes or the manifestations of 
old age, is caused by the continued presence 
in the blood of small quantities of poisonous 
material which gradually destroys the pro- 
toplasm of the arterial walls and causes it 
to be replaced by a degenerate form of 
tissue. It is known that alcohol and the 
poison of syphilis causes sclerosis, or 
hardening of the arteries. In the absence of 
these poisons, the presence of some similar 
acting toxic substance would naturally be 
suspected; otherwise the hardening of the 
arteries would not take place. 

The poisons produced in the intestines by 
bacterial decomposition are absorbed into 
the blood, and undoubtedly act in a similar 
way to the other poisons above mentioned, 
and this factor, as a cause of old age and 
premature death, is much greater than other 
sources, because it is practically universal. 
Numerous other disorders or diseases, too 
numerous to consider here, can be traced to 
this same general cause. 



CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTION 163 

In the light of all modern experiments it 
is evident that anything which lessens the 
amount of bacterial growth in the intestines 
is desirable and beneficial, while changes 
that increase the amount of such growth are 
to be guarded against as seriously detri- 
mental to health. 

The thorough mastication of food has 
been shown to decidedly lessen the bacteria 
of the intestines. Overeating is perhaps the 
greatest factor of all in bringing about a 
condition which favors excessive intestinal 
fermentation. 

A person living on the conventional diet 
not only takes large quantities of food, thus 
filling the digestive organs with an excessive 
bulk, which weakens the relative strength of 
the digestive juices and injures their anti- 
septic properties, but he also eats hastily, 
swallowing the food in lumps, which cannot 
be penetrated by the digestive juice, and 
which ferment before they can be digested. 

The effect upon the bacterial growth of 
the intestines of cooked food has already 



164 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

been referred to. Cooking, which is recom- 
mended to destroy germ life, acts ultimately 
in exactly the opposite manner. Cooked 
food is usually moist and warm; hence in 
excellent condition for bacterial growth. 
No cooked food, after sterilization by heat, 
must again be allowed to come to an ordi- 
nary temperature at which it becomes again 
contaminated with bacteria, as, indeed, it 
would in the digestive organs themselves. 
The result is that the cooked masses which 
form such excellent culture for bacteria, de- 
compose at a much more rapid rate than 
would similar foods uncooked. Cooking 
generally leads to overeating and less masti- 
cation, both of which, as before pointed out, 
favor bacterial growth. Thus it is seen that 
the efforts commonly recommended for the 
destruction of bacteria in foods greatly in- 
crease the amount of decomposition and fer- 
mentation that actually takes place in the 
alimentary canal. 

The putrefaction of proteids in the intes- 
tines is checked by a large percentage of 



CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTIOlSr 165 

carbohydrates and by organic acids. The 
preserving qualities of sugar depend upon 
the fact that putrefying bacteria cannot live 
where sugar is abundant. The beneficial 
effect of fruits in lessening the amount of 
bacterial decomposition in the intestines is 
due to the presence of relatively large 
amounts of sugar and of organic acids. 
Milk is known to have a prohibitive influ- 
ence upon putrefaction in the alimentary 
canal, this being due to the presence of milk 
sugar, and especially lactic acid. This ex- 
plains why clabbered milk, which contains a 
considerable proportion of sugar changed 
into lactic acid by the action of souring bac- 
teria, is especially beneficial in preventing 
intestinal putrefaction. Prof. Metchnikoff, 
of the Pasteur Institute of Paris, became so 
enthusiastic with this discovery that he has 
proclaimed sour milk to be a remedy for old 
age. While Metchnikoff 's enthusiasm has 
perhaps led him too far, there can be no 
doubt but that his theory is good and worthy 
of consideration. 



166 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

We should not, however, seek for any one 
specific remedy against intestinal decompo- 
sition, but should perfect the entire diet, 
thus limiting the opportunity for bacterial 
growth. 

Mechanics of Digestion 

Chemistry is not the only factor that is to 
be taken into the consideration of the diges- 
tive function. The mechanical condition of 
food, when it is taken into the digestive or- 
gans, very greatly influences the chemical 
process that takes place. 

Small particles of material will dissolve, 
of course, much more rapidly than will large 
ones. The greater the dissolving surface, 
the more rapidly will solution take place. 
If the substance that is being dissolved is a 
firm particle the digestion or solution will 
take place only on the exterior surface and 
the interior of the particle, however small, 
will remain practically unchanged. This is 
what occurs when food materials, such as 
grains or nuts, are taken in an imcooked 



CHEMISTEY OF DIGESTION 167 

state, as mastication does not dissolve them 
but only divides them into small, distinct 
particles. 

If, however, the grain be subjected to pro- 
longed heating with water, a partial solution 
takes place. The entire mass becomes 
mushy and permeated with water. When 
such a mass is brought in contact with dis- 
solving or digesting fluids, it mixes too rap- 
idly with the fluid, just as molasses w^ould 
mix with water, subjecting the whole mass 
to the immediate action of the digestive 
fluids. In normal digestion, the enzymes 
are continuously secreted for a period of 
several hours. They begin work on the out- 
side of the minute but distinct food particles, 
dissolving them little at a time. This dis- 
solved portion is absorbed as rapidly as 
formed, and active and complete digestion 
is constantly taking place. 

When the food material has been changed 
into a mushy mass as above referred to, the 
whole bulk is immediately subjected to the 
action of the digestive fluids. The result is 



168 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

that the digestive principles at first secreted 
cannot complete the digestion of the entire 
mass, but the entire bulk is partly digested, 
and various abnormal fermentations and 
decompositions then set in. 

The predigestion fad has been one of the 
greatest fallacies that has ever been forced 
upon the public mind. That the sugars of 
the juices of some fruits that are already in 
the form of glucose can be immediately ab- 
sorbed without any digestive process does 
not prove that mushy cooking, malting and 
other forms of so-called predigestion are 
beneficial. The so-called *^ predigested 
breakfast foods " are not changed into the 
final product of digestion, but are in an in- 
termediate stage between starch and glucose. 
They are composed of semi-soluble starch, 
gummy dextrine and maltose. These sub- 
stances only interfere with and disturb the 
normal process of digestion. 

Ninety-nine physiologies and dietetic 
books out of every one hundred make the 
statement point blank that raw starch is in- 



CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTION 169 

digestible. This fallacy has been established 
by the experiment of putting samples of raw 
and cooked starch into two test tubes and 
treating them with some digestive enzyme. 
The cooked starch being soluble is all at- 
tacked by the digestive enzyme at one time, 
and started on its way through the numer- 
ous changes in the complex chemical process 
of changing starch to glucose. In the sam- 
ple of raw starch the digestive enzyme at- 
tacks the particles from the outside, and 
slowly digests or eats off the exterior of the 
starch grains. After a given length of time, 
our chemist adds iodine to the two test tubes. 
Iodine gives a blue color with starch. In the 
test tube with the cooked starch, all of 
which has undergone a certain amount of 
digestion, no blue color is discerned, for no 
pure starch is left. In the other tube, in 
which a portion of the starch has been more 
completely digested, but in which some of 
the particles remain wholly unchanged, a 
blue reaction is, of course, obtained, and the 
chemist proclaims that uncooked starch is 
indigestible. 



170 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

Mr. Milton Hastings, while at the Kansas 
Experiment Station, made a comparison of 
two diets containing several varieties of 
grains. The diets were alike in every re- 
spect, with the exception that in one in- 
stance all the grains were boiled for two 
hours, while in the other case they were 
taken in an uncooked state. In the case of 
the uncooked grains, no starch whatever 
passed through the body in an undigested 
form. In the case of the cooked grains, the 
material remaining undigested was much in 
excess of that in the uncooked diet, although 
no actual starch was present. 

There is only one interpretation to such 
results, and that is, that while in the case of 
cooked grains the digestive processes may 
start with more rapidity than in the case of 
uncooked grains, they are not thoroughly 
completed, and various decomposition prod- 
ucts occur, as well as undigested proteid, 
which would not happen in the case of the 
foods taken in their natural state. 

Moreover, if uncooked starch was taken 



CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTION 171 

in excess of the digestive capacity and 
passed throngh the body wholly unchanged, 
no harm would result. The starch grain in 
its unchanged state is a fine, white, glisten- 
ing granule, wholly insoluble, and its pres- 
ence in the digestive tract would have no 
effect whatever upon the bodily functions, 
for without solution no material can have 
any possible effect upon the physiological 
processes except by irritating the mucous 
surfaces of the digestive organs ; in the lat- 
ter respect, starch granules are harmless. 

With the exception of foods that are al- 
ready soluble in water, and which are rap- 
idly digested and absorbed, the condition in 
which foods should enter the digestive tract 
is in finely divided, yet distinct, particles, 
and not in solutions or gummy masses. 

If the mastication of uncooked food is not 
thoroughly performed, it may result in their 
being passed through the body without all 
being dissolved, but it is much better for 
food to be swallowed in this condition than 
to be taken in a form that would turn to 
poison in the intestines. 



METABOLISM 

Metabolism is the term applied to all proc- 
esses that take place within the body from 
the time food is absorbed from the digestive 
tract until it is passed out of the body 
through some of the excretory organs. 

We may study metabolism best by consid- 
ering the two chief classes of physiological 
processes with which foods are concerned. 
First, the building of actual bodily tissue. 
Second, the generation of heat and energy. 

The chemist could analyze an adult man 
and a new-born infant and know that the 
infant, in order to reach manhood, would 
need to add to its body so many pounds of 
carbon, sulphur or iron. But the problem 
of nutrition is much more complex ; not only 
must we consider the formation of new 
tissue, but we must allow for the rebuilding 
of the old, and for all those processes of vital 
activity that involve the destruction of food 



METABOLISM 173 

material or bodily tissues. Nor can this al- 
lowance be proportioned from the analysis 
of the body because the various elements 
composing the body do not change with 
equal rapidity. Thus a man in a harvest 
field might pass through his blood in one 
day 10 or 15 pounds of oxygen, in the form 
of water and carbon dioxide, which would 
amount to 10 per cent of the oxygen con- 
tained in his body, but if he daily took cal- 
cium or fluorine to the extent of 10 per cent 
of that contained in the body, death from 
poisoning would speedily ensue. 

We can best comprehend the use of foods 
for building the body by considering sep- 
arately the changes each class undergoes 
from the time it is absorbed from the ali- 
mentary canal until it is excreted from the 
lungs or kidneys, or deposited in the body as 
bone or muscles. 

The second function, or rather we may 
say a group of functions, to be considered in 
the study of metabolism is the generation of 
energy and bodily heat ; for heat is only one 
form or expression of energy. 



174 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

The production of heat and energy in the 
body occurs ahnost entirely through the 
oxidation of food materiaL The three prin- 
cipal classes of food material, proteids, car- 
bohydrates and fat, can all be oxidized to 
produce heat. 

Energy may be mechanical, chemical, elec- 
trical or thermal (heat). The conservation 
of energy, which is one of the fundamental 
laws of science, shows that no energy can be 
lost, but can only be changed into other 
forms. This being true, and it being possi- 
ble to change all energy into heat, we use 
heat as a measure of energy. 

The unit of heat, and consequently of 
energy, that is used by scientists is a calory, 
which is the amount of heat required to raise 
one thousand grams of water one degree of 
tem.perature on the centigrade thermometer 
scale. The energy of food is measured in 
calories or vienos, one vieno being equal to 
one hundred calories. 

These terms are convenient for measuring 
the energy in food, but in order that this 



METABOLISM 175 

energy may be liberated in the body it is 
necessary that the food be absorbed and ox- 
idized within the body in a normal manner. 

Because of the law of the conservation of 
energy, which states that no energy in the 
universe can be lost, it is possible to study 
with great accuracy the energy taken in and 
given off by the human body. 

The method by which energy is measured 
in accurate scientific experiments is by 
means of a device called the respiratory 
calorimeter. This device consists of a small 
room, the walls of which are impervious to 
the transmission of both heat and air. In 
this room a man or animal may be kept 
for a period of several days. The air 
breathed, food eaten, bodily heat given off, 
waste products excreted, and mechanical 
work done, are all measured with the 
greatest scientific accuracy. Many inter- 
esting results have been obtained in the 
investigations conducted with this won- 
derful scientific device. Calorimeter ex- 
periments have confirmed the results of 



176 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

the oxidation of various foods in the 
laboratory, and have given us data from 
which to compute the stored energy in va- 
rious food substances. We have thus ascer- 
tained that the amount of energy yielded to 
the body by 1 gram of proteid is 4.1 calories ; 
from 1 gram of carbohydrates 4.1 calories, 
being equivalent to that of proteid. One 
gram of fat oxidized in the body yields 9.3 
calories, which is more than twice that 
yielded by proteids or carbohydrates. 

Metabolism of Carbohydrates 

The products of the digestion of carbo- 
hydrates are absorbed from the alimentary 
canal in the form of glucose and smaller 
amounts of levulose, acetic, butyric and 
lactic acids. These substances pass into the 
blood vessels of the intestines, which unite 
to form the portal vein which supplies blood 
to the liver. 

The chief function of the liver is to act as 
a reservoir for the sugar of the body. The 
blood, in order to properly nourish the body 



METABOLISM 177 

and supply energy to the muscle cells, must 
contain about .15 of 1 per cent of glucose or 
blood sugar. If, after a full meal of carbo- 
hydrates, the entire amount of digested glu- 
cose passed into the circulation, this percent- 
age would be increased many times. Here 
the function of the liver comes into play, for 
all blood from the intestines must pass 
through the liver before going over the body. 
The liver " senses " the increased content 
of sugar and the liver cells extract and store 
in the form of glycogen or animal starch a 
sufficient amount of glucose to reduce the 
percentage in the blood to the proper 
proportion. 

After digestion has been completed and 
the blood begins to run low in glucose, the 
liver cells again " sense " the difficulty and 
the glycogen is reconverted into glucose and 
again passes into the blood. This action of 
the liver in keeping the body fuel at constant 
or even pressure is one of the most impor- 
tant and wonderful processes in physiologi- 
cal chemistry. 

12 



178 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

The chief use of glucose and other forms 
of digested carbohydrates is the formation 
of heat and energy. Glucose is oxidized 
principally in the muscles, producing carbon 
dioxide, water and some lactic acid. The 
lactic acid which is simply a partly decom- 
posed form of glucose is further oxidized, 
forming the same final products. Glucose in 
the blood has still another function, as it is 
used to build up or form fat. Pat is a form 
of stored-food material which is not as 
readily available for use as is glycogen and 
glucose. 

We might use a homely figure of compar- 
ing the energy-producing substances of the 
human body with the movement of merchan- 
dise in ordinary commerce. We could say 
that the glucose of the blood was as mer- 
chandise in the hands of the people ready to 
be consumed; that glycogen of the liver 
would represent goods in the hands of the 
retailer ; while fat, which is stored in large 
quantities, would be represented by mer- 
chandise in warehouses. 



METABOLISM 179 

Many interesting experiments have been 
conducted to prove tliat fat in the animal 
body can be produced from the carbohy- 
drates of food. For illustration, a pig for 
a given period was given food containing 
only half a pound of fat, and yet gained dur- 
ing the period 9 pounds of fat. Such facts 
prove beyond all possibility of doubt that 
carbohydrates are converted into fat in the 
animal body. 

Diabetes is a disease in which the control 
of the sugar in the blood becomes deranged 
and the sugar is excreted by the kidneys. It 
is caused by long-continued eating of starch 
and other glucose-forming foods in excess 
of the needs of the body. The reason every 
one who eats an excessive amount of starchy 
foods does not become afflicted with diabetes 
is because the body mechanism does not al- 
ways break down in the same place. 

When the amount of carbohydrates con- 
sumed is just the amount necessary to keep 
up the fires of bodily warmth and muscular 
energy (and this will be regulated by the 



180 SUIsTCOOKED FOOD 

appetite when one subsists entirely on natu- 
ral suncooked foods), all will go well. But 
if an excess of such food be taken — and it 
almost invariably is by those living on a 
cooked diet — one of three things must hap- 
pen. (1) The intestines will refuse to ab- 
sorb the excess, and it will pass through the 
digestive tract a decomposing mass. (2) 
The excessive glucose may be deposited as 
bodily fat. This, however, is only an active 
factor, while the body is actually gaining 
weight, for the obese body whose weight is 
constant utilizes no more food than the nor- 
mal body. (3) An excess of sugar absorbed 
from the intestines and not converted into 
fat, forces the sugar content of the blood to 
an abnormal percentage, and the kidneys, 
whose normal function it is to excrete ni- 
trogenous waste products and retain the 
sugar, ^' spring a leak," which allows the 
sugar to pass out with the urine. In severe 
cases not only the excess but the normal 
sugar is strained out of the blood by the 
** leaky " kidneys, and the patient literally 



METABOLISM 181 

starves to death, though he may eat and 
digest an abundance of food. The remedy, 
if taken in the early stages, is to reduce the 
amount of sugar in the blood to normal 
through natural diet, or replace it by fat as 
far as possible. 

Of these three ways in which the body dis- 
poses of an abnormal amount of carbohy- 
drate food, the last is fortunately the most 
rare and the first most common. Were the 
reverse true, mankind would speedily be ex- 
terminated if he persisted in his present 
methods of living. 

Metabolism of Fat 

Fat, as absorbed from the digestive tract, 
is in the form of fatty acids and glycerine, 
but immediately recombines in passing 
through the intestinal walls into its original 
form. This fat then enters the lacteals 
which unite to form the thoracic duct. This 
duct or tube empties its contents into one of 
the large veins near the heart, whence it is 
distributed throughout the body. The fat of 



182 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

the blood is not regulated to a definite 
amount like the content of sugar. After a 
meal at which much fat has been taken, the 
blood for a time is whitish in appearance, 
due to the numerous minute globules of fat. 
Fat of the body may be deposited directly 
from food fat. This can be proved by feeding 
an animal that has been starved until its 
own bodily fat has been greatly reduced 
upon some particular form of fat. The fat 
immediately deposited will then have the 
peculiar characteristics of fat taken with 
the food. Thus a dog that has been given a 
heavy diet of tallow will deposit fat which 
will contain a large quantity of stearin and 
palmitin, and consequently have a higher 
melting point than normal dog fat. 

The distinction between tallow, lard, olive 
oil, human fat, etc., is chiefly due to the va- 
rious portions of stearin, olein, etc., which 
compose the mixed fat. The reason human 
fat is not identical with the food fat is be- 
cause the body has selective power in depos- 
iting these fats. Thus, if the sole source of 



METABOLISM 183 

fat which a man takes in his food is tallow, 
the fat-depositing cells in the human body 
would refuse a portion of the stearin and 
deposit a larger percentage of olein, thus 
giving a softer or more liquid fat than sup- 
plied in the food. 

When the consumption of glucose in the 
muscles becomes greater than the supply- 
available in the blood and the glycogen of 
the liver, bodily fat must be consumed. This 
explains why exercise reduces obesity. The 
proper method of preventing or curing 
obesity is a double process: First, the diet 
should be so selected and combined as to 
lessen the amount of fat that can be depos- 
ited from the blood; and, second, means 
should be employed to use or consume the 
fat that has accumulated. 

The whole story of the use of fat in the 
body is quite simple. Fat is least changed 
by digestion of all food materials. It has 
no particular function in the life processes, 
save that of storing energy. More bodily 
energy can be derived from a pound of fat 



184 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

than any other source. Carbohydrates and 
fat perform very similar functions within 
the body, and can, in a large measure, re- 
place each other as a source of heat and mus- 
cular power. 

Metabolism of PROTEms 

The chief materials of which the human 
body, in normal health, are constructed be- 
ing proteid substances, it is evident that 
only foods containing nitrogen can be util- 
ized to construct the tissues. For this rea- 
son the metabolism of proteid or nitroge- 
nous foods is of very great importance. 
When we realize the fact that muscle, blood, 
brain, nerves, cartilage, tendons, the various 
internal bodily organs and the tougher ma- 
terial of the skeleton are only various forms 
of proteid material, and must contain their 
proper proportions of available or organic 
nitrogen, we can readily understand why 
nitrogenous foods form a distinct class that 
must be considered by themselves. Only the 
mineral deposits of the bones and teeth and 



METABOLISM 185 

the globules of fat that are deposited as a 
source of stored energy can be constructed 
without nitrogen. 

The first use of proteids in the body is the 
actual adding to or increasing of bodily tis- 
sues. When a flabby-muscled young man 
from the city goes to work on a farm and 
gains 20 pounds, the cells of his muscles have 
actually increased in size and number. This 
requires proteids which can only be obtained 
from the nitrogenous material in food. The 
growth during early life is due to an actual 
increase of the size of all bodily organs, and 
is merely an accumulation of proteid matter. 

The second use of proteids, one which in 
mature life is of more importance than those 
already referred to, consists of the forma- 
tion of the various nitrogenous products 
which are produced in connection with the 
different processes of the body, and which 
are destroyed by the functions of life. For 
illustration, pepsin of the gastric juice is a 
nitrogenous substance. This can only be 
formed from proteids. All digestive en- 



186 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

zymes and various other substances formed 
in muscles, nerves and various organs 
throughout the entire body, are of a nitroge- 
nous nature, and in their formation and use 
a certain amount of proteid material is de- 
stroyed. When the digestive enzymes and 
similar products are formed from proteid, 
they consume considerably larger quantities 
of actual proteid material than from their 
own weight, for these peculiar compounds 
can only be constructed from certain por- 
tions of the ordinary food proteids. 

The third form in which proteids may be 
consumed in the body is in the actual re- 
placement of worn-out cells : the skin, hair 
and mucous or lining membranes of the 
bodily cavities are constantly being cast off 
on the external surface, new cells being 
formed underneath. Cells within the inte- 
rior of the body when they become injured 
or have passed their usefulness are removed 
by the phagocytes or white blood corpuscles 
and must be replaced by other cells. 

In the case of bacterial infections, as 



METABOLISM 187 

tmnors, boils or contagious diseases, the bac- 
teria feed upon the proteids of the blood. 
The white blood corpuscles are then de- 
stroyed in the effort to remove the intruders, 
and all these substances must be replaced by 
proteids from food. A rapid loss of weight 
in severe fevers is due to this kind of loss, 
and also the increased oxidation due to the 
higher temperature. 

The gain or loss of bodily proteids is in- 
dicated by the gain or loss of the nitrogen. 
The income of nitrogen can be ascertained 
by analyzing the food. The outgo of nitro- 
gen is computed by analyzing the excretory 
products of the body. If the body at the be- 
ginning or the end of an experimental pe- 
riod is carefully watched, and the income 
and outgo of nitrogen determined as has 
been stated, we can compute the amount of 
gain in the body that is nitrogenous tissue. 
The other gain or loss of bodily weight must 
be fat. These calculations cannot be made 
exact owing to the amount of food and water 
that is residual in the digestive organs at the 
time the various weighings are made. 



188 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

We have learned, however, that in the 
digestive tract products of food are all con- 
verted into a soluble form of proteid known 
as peptone. The purpose of converting 
these products into a soluble form is that 
they may pass through the walls of the ali- 
mentary canal. 

This is all that was known about proteid 
metabolism until the soluble peptone stage 
was reached, at which point all track was 
lost of the chemical processes until the nitro- 
gen was again secreted by the kidneys in 
the form of urea. 

No one explained how the radically differ- 
ent proteids, such as egg albumin, milk cas- 
ein and wheat giutin could appear in the 
body as blood globulin, brain lecithin, or the 
myosin of the muscles. 

We cannot fully explain here the history 
of all investigations that have shown the 
true state of affairs regarding proteid met- 
abolism, but must be content to recite what 
actually happens to the nitrogenous mate- 
rial of food. Proteids contain carbon, hy- 



METABOLISM 189 

drogen, oxygen and nitrogen, and sometimes 
small quantities of sulphur, phosphorus or 
iron. These proteids are now known to be 
chemically changed by the digestive enzymes 
of the intestines into simpler compounds 
containing these same elements. 

These simple nitrogenous substances pass 
into the liver, and just as the liver regulates 
the supply of sugar, so it regulates the sup- 
ply of nitrogenous compounds in the blood. 
A certain amount of proteid-forming mate- 
rial is passed through the liver and goes on 
to perform the various fimctions for which 
proteid is utilized in the body. All nitroge- 
nous material in excess of the amount re- 
quired by the body is challenged by the liver, 
and the nitrogen, together with a portion of 
the carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, is split off, 
forming urea, which is excreted by the kid- 
neys. The remainder of the proteid sub- 
stance having been robbed of its nitrogen is 
now essentially the same as carbohydrates, 
and goes to form glucose or blood sugar, 
which may in turn form bodily fats. 



190 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

This explanation throws light upon sev- 
eral interesting points. It has been stated 
that proteid is the most essential food ma- 
terial of the body, because it alone contained 
the nitrogenous compounds from which the 
bodily tissues and the chemical enzymes, 
which control all living processes, could be 
constructed. But we now see that as impor- 
tant as is a supply of proteid materials, any 
excess above the bodily needs is immediately 
turned into glucose and urea; the first of 
which, while useful to the body, could be 
taken in a simpler and less expensive form, 
and the latter of which is waste product 
harmful to life, and must be immediately ex- 
creted from the kidneys. 

The nitrogen that is actually used in the 
body has a different history from that of the 
excessive proteid taken as food. The food 
proteid is simpl}^ split by the chemical addi- 
tion of water, much as starch is changed 
into glucose. The proteid that is really used 
by the body is oxidized and is excreted by 
the kidneys chiefly in the form of creatinin 



METABOLISM 191 

and uric acid, and the proportions of these 
compounds compared with the urea in the 
urine show whether a man's diet contains an 
excess of proteid or is lacking in that group 
of food substances. 



THE VIENO SYSTEM OF FOOD 
MEASUREMENT 

Five years ago, when I published the first 
edition of " Uncooked Foods," I gave the 
tables of food analysis taken from Bulletin 
28 of the Chemistry Bureau of the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture. These tables 
were useful as reference for the chemist, but 
I had never found them to be of any par- 
ticular value in practical dietetics. They 
were published at the time as being the best 
thing available. 

Two years ago, assisted by Mr. Milton 
Hastings, the physiological chemist in 
Christian's School of Applied Food Chem- 
istry, I designed a new system of food meas- 
urement, which I have called the ^^ Vieno 
System,'' and which places the essential 
facts of food analysis in a practical form. 
This system has been taught for two years 
to the students of my School of Applied 



YEENO SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT 193 

Food Chemistry, and this test in actual 
work has been proven the most practical 
system of food measurement yet devised. 
It is here given for the first time to the gen- 
eral public. It is much simpler than the 
older food tables, and yet is complete and 
accurate enough for the purpose for which 
it is intended — that is, the calculation of the 
energy and available nitrogen in individual 
dietaries. 

The vieno tables tell the amount of energy 
that may be derived from food in the chemi- 
cal laboratory, but nothing of the amount of 
energy that the body must expend in the 
process of assimilation. This cannot be 
given in a table, because it varies with the 
individual and the condition of his digestive 
organs. 

Neither does the energy or nitrogen factor 
constitute all that is known about the chem- 
ical properties of food. But they represent 
two of the most important facts, and the two 
which are first to be considered in determin- 
ing how much of a particular food we should 
eat. 

13 



194 STJNCOOKED FOOD 

To the vieno table, as first planned, I have 
added a column, giving the constipating or 
laxative effects of food. This action, how- 
ever, depends, to a great extent, upon the 
amount taken, the way in which the food 
has been prepared, and the other foods with 
which it is combined. As the laxative factor 
cannot be numerically represented, I have 
grouped foods into the following classes: 
(C) constipative, (L) laxative, (N") neutral. 
This classification applies only when foods 
are taken in their natural state, and in nor- 
mal quantities, and combined with no other 
foods that would materially change their 
effect. The table assumes that meats will be 
cooked; other foods are assumed to be un- 
cooked. 

In the case of acid fruits, I have appended 
a fourth column, giving the comparative 
acidity. The amount of energy and nitro- 
gen contained in such foods is small, and 
their use in the diet is determined chiefly by 
the acid content. 



vieno system of measurement 195 
Explanation of the Vieno System 
Things are commonly measured by vol- 
ume or by weight. That volume would not 
be an accurate form of measurement of food 
values is evident to all. A bushel of lettuce 
leaves would clearly contain less food value 
than a bushel of wheat. 

Weight would seem to be a more accurate 
way to compare foods, but all foods contain 
water, which may vary from 5 to 95 per cent. 
A pound of turnips, which is nine-tenths 
water, would not be comparable with sugar, 
which has scarcely any water at all. 

Even if it were not for this water content, 
weight would not be a fair method of com- 
parison, because some foods are of more 
value per pound than others, owing to their 
difference in chemical composition. Thus 
a pound of butter gives 2% times as much 
heat to the body as the same weight in sugar. 
As before mentioned, the two chief food 
factors which we desire to measure are 
energy-producing and tissue-building power. 



196 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

All true foods, when assimilated in the 
body, produce some energy. In fact, only 
such substances as produce energy, when 
combined with the oxygen taken in through 
the lungs, can be strictly classed as food. 

We have taken this energy-producing 
power of food as the best basis for measure- 
ment and comparison. Nitrogen would 
have been taken as a unit and energy figured 
by a table, but it is simpler to use energy as 
a unit and figure the nitrogen in various 
foods by giving in a table the amount of 
nitrogen per unit of energy. Multiplication 
of the imits of energy by the nitrogen factor 
is necessary because the ratio of nitrogen to 
energy is different in each food. 

Energy is the power to do work. The 
form of energy with which we are most 
familiar is mechanical energy, as raising a 
stone or propelling a bicycle. Heat is 
another form of energy. Heat and work 
can be converted into each other. The steam 
engine converts heat into work, while a *' hot 
box '' turns work back into heat. 



YEENO SYSTEM OF MEASUEEMENT 197 

Experiments show that a definite amount 
of heat always yields a definite amount of 
work, so that the amount of heat formed by 
a food material when combined with oxygen 
is taken as a measure of its energy. This is 
ordinarily expressed in calories, which, as 
stated in the last chapter, is the amount of 
heat required to raise 1000 grams of water 
1° centigrade. 

The definition of the term calory need not 
concern the reader greatly for we will have 
no use for it other than a mere explanatory 
term. Instead we will use the vieno : a unit 
which is equal to 100 calories. This unit is 
selected because it gives such quantities of 
food as are easily measured and remem- 
bered. The word ^' vieno " is derived from 
the words '^ vital " and '' energy," and is 
pronounced vi-en'o. 

Nitrogen is the chemical element that is 
most concerned with the function of life. 
All animal tissue contains nitrogen, and it 
forms about one-sixth part by weight of the 
nitrogenous or proteid substances. Muscle 



198 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

is composed of proteid and water. If we 
were to take 100 pounds of lean meat or mus- 
cle and dehydrate it completely, we would 
have about 18 pounds of dry material left. 
If we should analyze this dry substance or 
proteid, we would find that about one-sixth 
or 3 pounds would be the element nitrogen. 
Thus we say that muscle contains 18 per 
cent of protein or 3 per cent of nitrogen. In 
ordinary practice protein is mixed with fats 
and salts and cannot be measured by simply 
drying out the water. So the chemist finds 
the amount of nitrogen present and multi- 
plies by 6.25, which gives about the per cent 
of proteid. This method is not accurate be- 
cause the per cent of nitrogen in various pro- 
teids is not the same. In this system we dis- 
card the use of the terms protein or proteids 
and refer to the amount of nitrogen directly. 
All compounds of the element nitrogen 
are not available as food. For illustration, 
the nitrogen of the air or of ammonia gas or 
gunpowder cannot be utilized in the animal 
body. The nitrogen in foods only refers to 



VTENO SYSTEM OF MEASIJREMENT 199 

available nitrogen. Compounds containing 
other forms of nitrogen are not foods, and 
are frequently poisons. 

In the following table I have attempted to 
give the amount of each particular food that 
one vieno equals, in as simple manner as pos- 
sible. 

In the first column I have told in the 
plainest language possible what one vieno 
of food equals; as one vieno equals two- 
thirds of an ounce, or one vieno of protoid 
nuts equals one rounded tablespoonful. 
This method is, of course, only approximate, 
as in some foods it is impossible to find a 
simple term to express the amount of one 
vieno. This is especially true of cooked 
foods, because of the varied amounts of 
water absorbed or lost in the cooking proc- 
ess. No food table which would attempt to 
give the positive value of cooked food would 
be worth anything from a scientific stand- 
point. In such cases the only way for the 
student to become familiar with a vieno is to 
weigh one pound of the uncooked or natural 



200 SrNCOOKED FOOD 

material and ascertain how much it makes 
after it is cooked. 

The definition given in the first column, in 
the case of milk, butter, eggs and cheese, is 
fairly accurate. In the case of cereals and 
bread the definition is also approximately 
correct. With fresh vegetables we have not 
attempted to define the vieno by volume, as 
vegetables are loose and bulky, and it is only 
practical to measure them by weight. 

In fresh fruits we have defined one vieno 
as " one large orange, or six plums," etc. 
In this case we have made allowance for the 
non-edible portion ; all weights given in the 
table consider only the edible portion. 

The defining of one vieno of nuts in spoon- 
fuls is sufficiently correct for practical use. 
With pecans we have given the actual num- 
ber of nuts of average size that equal one 
vieno. This is done only as an illustration, 
and not continued throughout the table. 
This first column of our table is for rough 
work, and is designed to aid the reader in 
approximating the amount of one vieno. 



VIENO SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT 201 

The third column of the table, which gives 
the number of vienos in one pound, is the 
column which should be used in more accu- 
rate work. A pound of food here referred 
to invariably means one pound of the edible 
portion only. The way to compute the 
amount of food in one vieno is to take one 
pound of the food to be used and divide it 
equally into as many portions as the number 
in this column. For illustration, if one 
pound of wheat is given as equal to 16 
vienos, one should take a poimd of wheat 
and divide it into 16 portions ; each of these 
portions will represent one vieno. As soon 
as a pound of food has been divided in this 
m^anner, and the amount of one vieno of such 
food fixed in the mind, it is easy enough to 
estimate the number of vienos and it will not 
be necessary to repeat the weighings in the 
future. 

The fourth column of our table gives the 
nitrogen factor. This column is to be used 
for computing the amount of nitrogen in the 
diet. The way to do this is to take the total 



202 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

number of vienos of each food eaten and 
multiply this number by the nitrogen factor. 
The product will be the actual amount of 
nitrogen consumed (expressed in deci- 
grams). As a decigram is one-tenth of a 
gram, it is only necessary to divide by ten to 
change the nitrogen, when given in deci- 
grams, to grams. For illustration, 30 vienos 
of almonds with a nitrogen factor of 5 would 
give 30 X 5 = 150 ; this means 150 decigrams 
or 15 grams of nitrogen. 

We express the nitrogen in decigrams be- 
cause it does away with the use of decimals. 
If in reading other works one finds the 
amount of nitrogen given in grams he only 
needs to add a cipher to reduce it to our 
system.* 



*As for comparing the Vieno System with the old- 
fashioned food tables, giving the percentage of protein, 
carbohydrates and fat, and the energy in calories, the compu- 
tation involved is too complex for a popular work. The 
reader may secure a further explanation of this relation 
from the Vieno Booklet of Christian's School of Applied 
Food Chemistry. 



VIENO SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT 203 



^l Z o z >^ 



z z z 



u 



Z Z Z >A 







<M «0 


as c 


^ 




OQ 


O OJ 


v> 




U5 




2 




M 


tH 










y-i 






•Sb 


i 






















If 


g O 00 UO iH 




to 


CO la 


a 


05 




a CO 




iH iH 




tH 


iH rH 




iH 




S^ 


s 

o 






, 




I) • 




. 




0) . 






















. 




, 


U ' 


















k3 • 




• 




<o 


a ' 


















3 • 








u, 


s • 


















D* • 




X) 




s 


cr • 


















B2 ♦ 




Eh 






OT • 


















P 

w 






1; 


• • 
















-* 


CQ 




x3 


o . 


^ 












' 


It . 


■g 




o 
C 


a . 


p 










• o 


CO . 


a 






CO I 


O' 








• J 


"5 „, 




• 




- 60 






m 








< 






^ s? 




o 








• t 


OS . 


"S o 


-O 


eg . 


^ 








' \ 


io •"■ 






S S) 


a 










? 


t 


i b 

. ^ 






03 










a 




5 M 


o 


^« 


Ig m 


H 




0) 




c 




J O 




1 CD 




+j O 


O 




c 


c 




5 «M 
Q O 


il 






^1 






CQ 

S 


1 


71 


i .§ 


"^ CO 




a 

a 


•'"' CO 






CS 


5 


fC 


a CO 








< ,C3 










u 

^ 


c 


j 


> 1 




i § 


;^ 


CO 








o 


C 




s 5 


1 


g5 






^ 


Oh 


d 


' ^ 


a 




a 


A. 


w 


W 






t« 
































«M 
































a 
































.2 


































^ 






























-S 


0) 






























a> 


S 












Asi 












Q 




B 


^ 






^-^ 




,^ 


rt 




^.^ 


^^ 




^_^ 












-M 






a 




■^ 


a +-> 




.1^ 


Q 




-a 


'O 




o a 




C<J 






03 


S CJ 


c3 


b 

§ 

H 
^ 




1 


o 

a 


o 




§ 


^a 


5 


^ a 


CO 

II 


a*" 
5a 




Pi 
o 

1 




^ 


O O) 




a> 


^ 


° OI 


ra (D 


s <u 


1 






6X) 


a 


o 

(1( 


a 


-2 




B 


o 


a 


o 

a 


5 



S 


s 




o 


fl 


a 


J3 


3 


O 


O 


;^ 


^ 


tH 


cq 








,d 


0) 


• 


td 






I 


m 


■*:i 


d 


• 




s 


a 


^^ 




^ 


-d 






09 


02 


OS 




OI 


a> 


^ 




u 


f^ 


o 




fe 


^ 


^ 



204 



SUNCOOKED FOOD 



<6 » 



;z: ^ ;z; iz: o iz; 



Z ^ DO o 



O CO Tj< O N 

T-l CO 



III 



U5 O (M t- t- "er 



.2 § 



(2 ;^ 



^ s 



CO ,H tH 



CO w to 

W) a> o 

S i^ o 

rH CO CO 



2 5 S OJ 



^ ^ 



m m oi 

Wl biD bo 
bO bO bo 



O O H W H 



J^ '5 cu 






J3 O O 

pq O O 



o 

<M 

bO 

Pi 






VIENO SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT 205 



u 


o 


o 


O 


S' 








>5~ 


o 

tH 




00 


l^i 








1 = 1 


o 


(M 


eo 



^J h5 



^ y^ Z ^ O Z Z 



^0 50 Tt< O 






«0 00 50 t, 05 ;£, C<1 






ij O "^ 



cu 






. 


QJ 




^ 


M 


o 




a 


B 


rt 


73 


9^ 


(U 




a 


^ 


a 



bD 



O 



tn 



O c3 t: tri 






02 



CO 



l=! 
o 

a 
a 

o 

o 



fl 


a 


.5-5 


ee 


-l-> (P 


Xj 


02 ^: 


02 


*t^ ?. 




(-1 


^ " 


,£3 


o 


o 



fl CU 

•^ OS 

02 CIIh 



O 



<D rQ 



S^ 



bJD 
,H CO 



V Q O 



206 
5 



SrNCOOKED FOOD 






ro \a ^ o to o«£>eco«£>"^'«»«w<0"«j<«>ijO<o 



?2 tot-o<Dt-ioeoeocooo<o«o«c«D«oc<ito<o 



PI rt 
O to 






0) o 

o u 

(3 fl 

o o 



o 
o 



ft 3 -^ 



ft 2 

^ T-l tJ "^ 



O) 

CI 

(3 
O bfl 



O —i 

o ^ 



"ft ^ 

1 1 



I' 

fe o 



^ 5 
o o 



S «2 

o 

a o ft 
o 



«3 o 



.0) ^ o rt 

a t: 

CO ^ 



.2 ^ 

ft T^ 



o Its 



t;ooo3e3ce.^a)rtm^^^ 



W ^ r^ 



d 



VIENO SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT 207 



^^z:^ ^o^o^^z::^:^^ 



f^ xa <£> ^ 



M cq CO lO CO t^ W 



^ o 2 



bo WD 



— :3 

(=1 O 

O O 

o o 



03 

a 

o 
o 

p. 

CO 

O M 

o 2 



rn ^w '-' 

1 "^ 1 

C 03 g 

^ S PQ 



S3 --! P 11 



■t-l 

1 




PI 

5 






d 

Pi 




.5 


(D 


w 


03 


B 




2 


'S 




"S 


^ 


:3 


03 


2 






rn 

CD 


a 
o 


8 




'c3 


,s=i 


Q 


o 


ITh 




O 




o 


Q 


U 


|i| 


(i! 



rt 


g 


o 


o 


1 


1 


03 


Q> 


<D 




3 


i 


eS 


-S 


-M 




W) 


bo 


_fl 






'3 


a 


pj 


,d 


3 
o 

^4 



to iS 

|l 



03 



03 



fl CD s_^ -:^ 

O) Ph 03 d 

^ CU -tJ p, 

C P! ^ 



-O 



03 



208 



SUNCOOKED FOOD 



S) c 

o o 



^^^^Z^yA'!^^yA*A>^^^ 



eo CO CO po (M 



tH tH (M cq CO O 



®5oCO CO U5 CO <M 

i » » 



(M CO O lO -*! 



C<J CO c^ 



w 



^ i 



S ^ 1 I I °° ?3 1 I 



ft ft 



.s 


a 


m 




be 


*«! 


ft 


S 


^ 


«C 


^ 


-iH 


<t-i 
el 



1^ 




xi 





ft 


P 
^ 


(h 

^ 




a 


a* 


OJ 







;?J 



w o 



o 

o 

m TO 



&H O 



to 





^^ 


1=) 




m 





a 


V 


a 


> 


>^ 


0) 


r5 


r^ 


^ 









VIENO SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT 209 



jl jJh3h:1h:Ih^hJJ2; 



)^ ^ ^ a ^ 



•2 C 5. r-l tH 



"3 00 ITS 0> i-i 



C<1 rH C<l rH t- 



2| O in 



1 S S I 



d '^ 



ft a; cu rt 
a> o 5 o 

(M <M CO tH 



(=1 fl 
o o 



;?? s^- ;|i 



14 



j-i a> S 

S ^ I § 

Pi rt od p 



210 



SUNCOOKED FOOD 



ll Hqh^O^JQH^HqOvJH:!^^;*^^ 



Il ^ s 



oooiHifluj-^uiiooocqtoia 






Cq (M ;D r^ Cq 









•rt 






'C 


w t: 


1- 


Ti t: 


1/ 


r- 


-d 






6iD = 


2 


d 1 


P 


S £ 


CO P 


d 
d 


a 

c 


->- 


rt 






»- 


c 


d 


JZ" 


M 


c 


d 


c 


c 


c 


c 


c 


o 






^ 


Pi 3 
o 


a § 


p. ^ 


P< g 


P. P. 5 


E 


A 






T- 


^ ^. 


T-l r-i 


^ ^ 


;:j^ < 


;^ ;:^ cc 


< 


^ 




? 
































4-> 
































rt 
































o 










'd 
.2 






















CQ 






























g 












'a 














zr 






o 


P3 






^^ 




v-^ 














a 






fa 


^ 






to 




OT 












cc 


c 






u< 


H 


PJ 


3 


d 




d 












d 


c 






o 


> 




P 




t 

-4-1 


5 


re 

C 
o 


1 

d 


o 




d 


O) 

-1 


o 

e 

3 ^J 


B 


* 

'3 

t-, 






u 


Sh 




a 


rt 


p 


d 


o 


o 


4 C 


c 


d 












^ 


^ 


^ 


O 


Ph 


Ph 


w 


w 


W 


03 


h 


B 



OLD AND NEW DIETARY STAND- 
ARDS 

The term '' dietary standard," as it has 
been applied in the past, means the amount 
of various classes of nutrients that should 
be taken by the human body under the vary- 
ing conditions of age, work, etc. 

Many investigations have been made dur- 
ing the last twenty-five years in this country, 
Europe and Japan regarding the amount of 
foods consumed by various groups of people. 
The facts gathered, which include more or 
less accurate records of the foods eaten by 
many thousands of individuals under widely 
different circinnstances and conditions of 
life, is invaluable scientific data, but the in- 
terpretation that has been placed upon these 
observations, forms one of the most con- 
spicuous blunders made by the scientific 
world. Whether this criticism should fall 
wholly upon the men of science, who made 



212 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

the investigations, or more upon the people 
who misinterpreted their meaning, is an 
open question; but the fact remains that 
from the general teachings in physiologies 
and popular bulletins piiblished by the gov- 
ernment there has been widely spread many 
very incorrect ideas respecting the amount 
and character of nutrients required to main- 
tain a high standard of life and health. 

The following table gives, in the Vieno 
System, the results of a number of the inves- 
tigations as made. These figures represent 
the actual daily average amount of food 
eaten by the people under observation when 
they were following their customary diet : 

Yienos. ^N-S'Sf 

California Football Team 66 375 

New England Rowing Club 40 255 

Wealthy class in American cities... 30 250 

U. S. Army rations 37 200 

Farmers, Eastern U. S 34 160 

Skilled laborers, U. S. cities 40 220 

Alabama negroes 34 145 

Japanese peasants 20 100 

From such records the government stand- 
ards have been roughly approximated. The 



OLD AND NEW STANDARDS 213 

standards published by the United States 
Government, computed by Prof. Atwater, 
and commonly known as the Atwater Stand- 
ards, are as follows: 

Vienos. Decigrams 

,, , Nitrog-en. 

Man at hard muscular work 55 280 

Man at hard work 41i^ 240 

Man at moderate work 34 2OO 

Man at light muscular work 30% igO 

Man of sedentary habits 27 160 

The Atwater Standards for women are 
computed as four-fifths of the amount of 
food required for a man under similar con- 
ditions. 

Of course it has been recognized through- 
out that no correct standard could be pre- 
scribed for individuals without knowing the 
details of their environment and personal 
habits, yet these dietary standards have been 
put forth to guide the public in the selection 
of their food. Although the great majority 
of people eat what is set before them and ask 
no questions about nitrogen and energy, the 
influence of a prescription so imiversally 
published as the Government Dietary Stand- 



214 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

ards seriously sways and affects the habits 
of the people. Obviously the correctness of 
Government standards is of vital impor- 
tance to the health and welfare of the nation. 

A dietary standard to be of value should 
tell the amount and proportion of food mate- 
rials required to keep the human body in its 
highest working capacity. The error com- 
mitted by the men who planned the fore- 
going standards, is that they have assumed 
that the amount of food a man does eat is a 
criterion of the amount he should eat. 

Man is a creature of habits, and civilized 
man is a creature of a good many bad habits. 
The argument that the average amount of 
food eaten is the amount that should be 
eaten falls under suspicion at once when we 
consider the fact that by a similar line of 
reasoning we could prove that the use of 
tobacco is necessary because the majority of 
men use it, or that deformed feet are neces- 
sary for good social standing because a few 
million Chinese women consider this to be 
the eminently correct thing. 



OLD AND NEW STANDARDS 215 

The idea has been spread far and wide 
that the diet of the American working man, 
which is the richest in proteid of any race in 
the world, is responsible for the great econo- 
mic thrift of the American people. As a 
matter of fact rich diets are associated with 
prosperity, but the prosperity is the cause of 
the diet, not the diet the cause of the pros- 
perity. Meat and rich foods pervert the 
taste and gain a hold upon the bodies of men, 
as alcohol and narcotics do. When a man 
or nation becomes wealthy, gluttony is the 
usual result, but there is no proof that a 
heavy consumption of food is the cause of a 
nation's greatness. On the contrary, his- 
tory shows many illustrations of the rise and 
growth of a people in power and prosperity, 
the consequent adoption of excessive and 
luxurious habits of eating and drinking, fol- 
lowed by physical deterioration and the de- 
cline of the race. Diet was the mercury in 
the national thermometer that marked the 
first mental decline of the Eoman empire. 
The power to live from the work of others, 



216 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

which is miscalled wealth, gives leisure and 
luxury, and the demands of sensuality are 
apt to assume control while mentality de- 
clines at a corresponding ratio. 

The criterion that we should depend upon 
to determine dietary standards is not the 
amount of food eaten, but the amount of 
food that is found to give the greatest 
vitality and capacity to do things. It is 
reasonable to assume that this amount would 
be the least quantity of food that would 
maintain activity without using up the food 
material stored in the body. All food taken 
in excess of the amount actually required is 
a poisonous embargo laid upon the vitality 
of the body. 

To do a given amount of work or to add a 
pound of tissue to the body requires a defi- 
nite quantity of energy-yielding or tissue- 
building material ; but if more food is eaten 
than is needed for these purposes, the excess 
must be thrown off at a tremendous expense 
of vital force. If it is not digested, it fer- 
ments in the alimentary canal, giving rise to 



OLD AND NEW STANDARDS 217 

poisonous products, which enter the blood 
and cause all manner of ills. If it is ab- 
sorbed by the blood, it must be decomposed 
into simple products before being secreted, 
for the complex substances of food cannot 
be directly excreted from the body. All this 
means that food taken in excess of the actual 
requirements is not only useless, but very 
detrimental, consuming energy, poisoning 
and interfering with the normal action of 
the body, and overtaxing the organs of ex- 
cretion. 

The assumption that the amount of food 
that will give the best result is the least 
quantity that will maintain normal bodily 
functions is now known to be correct. It 
has been positively proven by recent scien- 
tific experiments that we would be greatly 
benefited in health if the above dietary 
standards were cut in half. The obstinate 
manner in which the old school of scientists 
have tried to avoid the acceptance of the 
modern investigations is almost amusing. 
They seem to be much afraid that the world 



218 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

will starve to death, and have searched in 
vain throughout the field of science for facts 
to sustain the old standards of diet. 

True Food Requieements 

The amount of energy required by the 
body depends very greatly upon the amount 
of work done, and hence cannot be pre- 
scribed when this is unknown. However, 
there is a certain amount of energy con- 
sumed by the beating of the heart and in the 
maintenance of bodily heat which can be 
fairly well estimated. The daily quantity 
of energy-yielding food required for the 
maintenance of the life functions is about 
one vieno for every 10 pounds of bodily 
weight. For a man at steady muscular 
work, such as a carpenter or farmer, this 
quantity should be about doubled. The 
amount best suited to a man of sedentary 
habits, but who takes regular exercise for an 
hour or two each day, is about half way be- 
tween these two quantities. Thus a man 
weighing 140 pounds would require 1^/^ 



OLD AND NEW STANDARDS 219 

vienos for each 10 pounds or 21 vienos of 
food per day. These weights apply only to 
people in normal flesh, who neither desire to 
gain or lose weight. 

The fact that either fats or carbohydrates 
can be used as a source of muscular energy 
can be taken advantage of in prescribing 
dietaries for persons whose digestive organs 
are so deranged that they cannot partake 
of a normal amoimt of either of these nutri- 
ments. This does not mean, however, that 
the proportion of fat and carbohydrates in 
the food can be entirely disregarded. The 
digestive processes involved are radically 
different, and a suitable ratio of carbohy- 
drates and fats should be maintained if we 
expect to keep all functions of the digestive 
and assimilative organs in their best work- 
ing order. 

With a view to guiding in a general way 
those who wish a standard of diet for ordi- 
nary use, and who consult tables in which 
fats and carbohydrates are listed separately, 
I might state that the fat should form about 



220 siJisrcooKED food 

one-fourth the total source of energy of the 
food or one-eighth the weight of water-free 
substance. 

Consideration of the amount of proteid 
food required by the body is of special in- 
terest. An idea that was held by scientists 
until forty years ago, and which is still a 
matter of popular belief, is that nitrogenous 
foods are the source of muscular energy. 
This is a natural assumption. Lean meat is 
muscle. If a man eats muscle he would 
surely grow muscle and be a strong man. 
The apparent logic of this is so evident that 
its belief among people, who are not ac- 
quainted with physiological chemistry, is 
almost universal. As a matter of fact, the 
man who eats the muscle of an ox for the 
purpose of adding strength to his own biceps 
goes as wide of the mark as the college boy 
who takes calf's brains for breakfast the day 
before examination. 

The fact that nitrogenous foods are not a 
source of muscular energy has been repeat- 



OLD AND NEW STANDARDS 221 

edly proved by experiments on man and 
animals. The glucose or grape sugar in the 
blood, taken into the muscle cells, and there 
uniting with oxygen brought from the lungs, 
is the true source of muscular energy. 
When the body is fed upon proteids and 
lacks sufficient quantities of other food, a 
portion of this can be converted into glucose 
or blood sugar, which maintains bodily heat 
and energy. This (together with fat) is the 
source of energy of carnivorous animals, 
but they have excretory organs especially 
adapted to handle the useless products that 
are left when proteid food is used to pro- 
duce glucose for muscular energy. 

Prof. Chittenden, of Tale, has proved that 
dogs are capable of living for an indefinite 
period, maintaining health and increasing 
bodily weight upon a diet with only a small 
proportion of proteid. Thus we see that 
even carnivorous animals require for the 
maintenance of the bodily functions a com- 
paratively small amount of nitrogenous ma- 
terial, and can get their strength- and heat- 



222 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

forming elements from carbohydrates and 
fats. 

During active life a given quantity of 
mtrogen is required to maintain health. 
Under certain conditions the amount of 
nitrogen required for the maintenance of 
health would be increased ; for illustration, 
a rapidly growing youth would consume 
nitrogen to actually increase the tissues of 
his body. An emaciated person, who wishes 
to increase weight; a person recovering 
from a severe case of illness, or one who is 
just beginning to take up strenuous work 
and whose weight shows a daily increase due 
to actual growth of muscles, all these would 
require nitrogenous food in addition to that 
required for the normal vital processes. 

The amount of nitrogen actually con- 
sumed in the physiological processes has 
been determined by various methods, and 
for the adult is from 40 to 60 decigrams per 
day. This amoimt, however, makes no al- 
lowance for the waste necessary in the re- 
fusal by the digestive or other organs of 



OLD AND NEW STANDARDS 223 

parts of the proteid not suited to actual 
bodily uses. 

From the results of numerous experi- 
ments the quantity of food nitrogen, which 
is found to maintain the best bodily condi- 
tion, is about three-fourths of a decigram 
per poimd of bodily weight. Less than one- 
half a decigram per pound bodily weight 
would cause nitrogen starvation, while more 
than one decigram per pound, except in the 
case of a person rapidly gaining flesh, would 
fill the blood with those nitrogenous decom- 
position products that are known to be the 
cause of fatigue, muscular soreness and that 
feeling of listlessness experienced by the 
consumer of an excessive proteid diet. 

As explained in the chapter on flesh foods, 
the proteid of flesh is worse in this respect 
than milk, eggs or vegetable proteids, be- 
cause flesh is laden with the unexcreted 
nitrogenous decomposition products of the 
animal. 

The reason that the flesh-eating athlete is 
more healthy than the sedentary flesh eater 



224: SUNCOOKED FOOD 

is because Ms mucli more rapid circulation 
passes the blood more frequently through 
the excretory organs, removing a larger pro- 
portion of the poison. 

Those abstaining from meat proteids need 
much less training to keep in physical trim 
than the steak-fed athlete. Compared with 
the number of contestants, an overwhelming 
proportion of the endurance tests in ath- 
letics are won by non-meat-eating athletes. 
The best record for the arm-holding endur- 
ance test made in this country by a meat 
eater is 22 minutes; the non-meat-eater's 
record is 176 minutes. 

Nature's Food Scales 

But must I weigh all my food and count 
every apple and ice-cream soda I eat during 
the day ^ I would answer by saying that if 
you have been eating as blindly as the aver- 
age American nothing could more forcefully 
impress upon your mind the importance and 
interest in the subject of food than to pro- 
vide a note book and compute for a few days 



OLD AND NEW STANDARDS 225 

the energy and nitrogen contents of your 
diet. This, with the Vieno System, will be 
easy enough, if you dine in your own home. 
With the aid of the popular approximations 
of the '' one-vieno-equals '' column you can 
even get a line on how near you are meeting 
the real needs of you body, though you live 
at boarding house or hotel. 

It is interesting, right and helpful that we 
should study, know and profit by the findings 
of science, but nature gave man a means of 
determining the food requirements of his 
body a hundred thousand years before the 
invention of the Vieno System or the multi- 
plication table. 

There are several thousand taste-buds 
called '^ papillae " on the top and root of the 
tongue. When the mouth receives food that 
is approved by the taste-buds each motion of 
the jaw in mastication pumps out saliva 
which is thoroughly mixed with the food, 
which brings out new and still more deli- 
cious tastes. The mouth is the laboratory 
in which everything that goes into the 

15 



226 SIJNCOOKED FOOD 

stomacli should be tested and prepared. 
The taste-buds are the police of the stomach. 
If they have not been perverted and abused, 
they will stand ever on guard and protest 
when either the quantity or quality of the 
body's building material goes wrong. 

They will perform this service for us per- 
fectly if we train and treat them decently; 
but if we abuse and pervert these delicate 
organs by heaping upon them and forcing 
them to accept stimulating, irritating and 
unnatural things, they cease to perform 
their functions, and sullenly accept almost 
anything and any quantity with which we 
choose to load them. 

Luigi Cornaro was a Venetian nobleman 
and philosopher. He became a physical 
T\T:'eck at forty. He ceased philosophizing 
about ethics and such things and decided to 
ascertain why. 

He very soon solved the problem. It was 
over-eating. He began by restricting him- 
self to 12 ounces of solid food per day. As 
he advanced in age he still further reduced 
his daily ration until he partook of only one 



OLD AND NEW STANDARDS 227 

egg a day, in addition to a very little wine 
and water. 

After adhering to this custom for many 
years and enjoying perfect health, he one 
day partook of 2 ounces of solid food, an ex- 
periment which nearly cost him his life. 
Some of his best works were written between 
the ages of eighty-six and ninety-five. He 
lived to be 103 years old, though the best 
doctors of his day had told him at forty that 
he could never reach the age of fifty. 

In subsisting wholly upon uncooked food, 
the natural tendency is for all the organs 
that are employed in converting food into 
energy to become normal, and make no de- 
mands except those required by nature. 
Natural foods require more mastication, 
which is nature's greatest guard against 
over-eating; but until the system adopts the 
new regime and the taste-buds are given 
opportunity to adjust themselves to the 
change, it is best to partake of about half 
the quantity one would eat were the foods 
cooked, and masticate them twice or three 
times as long. 



FLESH FOODS 

Many thousands of people attain fine 
physical development and seem to maintain 
good health when subsisting upon a mixed 
diet, including meat. It is true that meat 
will sustain life, and it is equally true that 
human life can be sustained without it. 

The question of whether man should eat 
the flesh of animals seems to be especially 
fascinating for those who give much atten- 
tion to the subject of human nutrition. 
There are many viewpoints from which the 
question of vegetarianism may be discussed. 
Religious teachings have been very conspic- 
uous in the history of flesh eating. Some 
sects require man to refrain from all animal 
products, while others condemn only the 
flesh of certain animals. The discussion of 
these various teachings is of no importance 
to the scientific student ; hence I will not con- 
sider them here. 



FLESH FOODS 229 

Flesh eating has been widely discussed 
during the past few years — chiefly from the 
animars standpoint, that is, the cruelty and 
destruction of life involved in the slaughter 
of innocent creatures who are in many ways 
physiologically related to us. That prac- 
tices and customs that train humanity in 
cruelty toward animal life are to be dis- 
couraged cannot well be disputed; but this 
phase of the subject of vegetarianism is also 
one somewhat without the realm of food 
chemistry, and upon which ample stress has 
been laid by other writers. 

I wish to discuss vegetarianism here from 
the standpoint of scientific human nutrition. 
One of the first and most important phases 
of the question is man's natural adaptation 
to such a diet. By natural adaptation I 
mean the fitting of the physiological organ- 
ism to the food primitive man was able to 
procure. The digestive and metabolic proc- 
ess of man, has, in his comparatively brief 
period of civilization, doubtless undergone 
some changes, but it was in the long ages of 



230 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

evolution that the digestive organs of man 
received their chief characteristics. For 
this reason it is of especial importance for 
us to know the diet of primitive men at a 
time before his increasing resourcefulness 
enabled him to gather his bill of fare from 
the four corners of the earth. 

The food of the man-like or anthropoid 
apes, of very primitive savage tribes, and 
that of our own ancestors, as indicated from 
remains found as fossils and in caves, all 
throw light upon the subject. The con- 
sensus of these various studies indicates that 
the original or natural diet of man was one 
drawn chiefly from the vegetable kingdom, 
but not entirely so. Fruits, nuts, green 
vegetables, edible foliage, tubers and roots, 
were all included in man's primitive bill of 
fare. The foods of animal origin were 
varied, and consisted of such articles as 
birds' eggs, shell fish, and, though it may not 
please some of our twentieth-century read- 
ers to be reminded of it, primitive man un- 
doubtedly devoured many insects and other 



FLESH FOODS 231 

low forms of animal life. Our modern cus- 
tom of eating lobsters, clams and frogs' legs 
might well be considered an inheritance of 
this habit. 

Primitive man ate all of the foregoing 
articles uncooked. 

From the above facts it will be clear to the 
mind of the unbiased reader that man does 
not need to ingest large quantities of beef- 
steak in order to survive. Neither do the 
facts of man's primitive diet prove that he 
is by nature an absolute vegetarian as is the 
cow, and wholly unsuited to digest any mate- 
rial of animal origin. The anatomy of 
man's teeth and digestive organs, when com- 
pared with that of other animals, bears out 
the conclusion that he is by nature chiefly a 
vegetarian, but not absolutely so, and that 
his digestive organs can assimilate a diet 
that is somewhat more bulky than that of 
carnivorous animals, but, on the other hand, 
less bulky than the diet of animals which 
subsist wholly on succulent plants as do the 
herbivorous species. 



232 suisrcooKED food 

A diet composed exclusively of flesh con- 
tains fat and nitrogenous compounds only. 
These two classes of foods can maintain life. 
For that matter proteid alone will maintain 
life, for proteid is capable of forming both 
blood sugar and bodily fat. The fact that 
the proteid or fat of meat can be made to fill, 
in the physiological economy, the place 
naturally filled by the carbohydrate mate- 
rials of vegetable food, does not prove that 
such a diet is without its harmful infiuences. 
The living body has many wonderful pro- 
visions whereby life is maintained under 
favorable influences. Just as a blind person 
develops a sense of touch which in a way 
acts as a substitute for sight, so the ability of 
the body to convert proteids or fats into 
sugar may be utilized in case of emergency ; 
but the using of this emergency or substitute 
function cannot develop as perfectly an ad- 
justed bodily machine as will a naturally 
balanced diet. The fact that some people 
exist on an excessive meat diet no more 
proves that it is without its handicapping 



FLESH FOODS 233 

and evil influences than does the almost uni- 
versal use of alcohol indicate that man is 
benefited by indulging in intoxicants. 

Fat and proteids are the elements sup- 
plied by flesh foods, and in considering the 
use of meat we may well ask, " Is meat the 
best source from which we may secure these 
elements?'' 

The proportion of fat required by man is 
not large, and where this proportion is 
greatly increased it results in the unbalanc- 
ing of both digestion and metabolism. 

The proteid substance of meat includes 
all of the edible portion of a carcass, except 
the fat. The proteid of meat is more com- 
pletely and more rapidly digested than is 
the proteid of vegetables. Notwithstanding 
this fact, there are serious objections to the 
use of meat as a source of nitrogen in our 
food. One objection is that flesh food con- 
tains the unexcreted waste matter of the 
slaughtered animal. When the process of 
metabolism is suddenly arrested by death, 
the effete and decomposing cells and partly 



234 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

oxidized waste products, which are normally 
in the blood and muscle tissue, are left in the 
flesh. Moreover, while excretion and circu- 
lation are stopped immediately upon the 
death of the animal, the muscle cells live for 
some hours — at least until the animal 
warmth has left the flesh. These cells living 
after the death of the animal continue to 
produce animal poisons, and as there is no 
circulation to carry them off they accumu- 
late in much larger percentage than in the 
normal live muscle cell. When an animal 
dies in a warm environment, the actual death 
of the muscle cells is due to this very ac- 
cumulation of waste product, which would 
normally be carried away by the circulation 
and thrown off through the lungs and kid- 
neys. 

Plants can thrive upon the carbon dioxide 
or other excrement of the animal. One form 
of life may thus utilize what is excreted by 
another form of life, but the living thing 
that cannot get away from the excreted mat- 
ter of its own activity is poisoned thereby. 
When bacteria growing in a solution of 



FLESH FOODS 235 

sugar have excreted alcohol until it forms a 
certain percentage of the contents of the 
liquid, their activity is stopped. They die 
from the poisons they have produced. This 
is the reason why liquids containing a high 
percentage of alcohol must be distilled and 
cannot be brewed. The same principle 
applies to the cells of the human body. The 
flesh of animals whose physiological proc- 
esses are almost identical with our own, 
containing as it does waste products that 
have not yet been excreted, must, when taken 
into the human body, add extra burdens to 
our excretory organs, which are usually 
overburdened in their effort to remove the 
effete matter of our own cells. Carnivorous 
animals are especially provided with an ex- 
cretory system capable of taking care of 
such matter; but it is unreasonable to expect 
the excretory organs of man, which are not 
adapted to such a purpose, to throw off, in 
addition to its own waste matter, similar de- 
composing products of other animals. 
Meat in the sense the word is used here in- 



236 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

eludes beef, mutton, pork and an occasional 
allowance of wild game. From the stand- 
point of its chemical consideration, meat 
may well be divided into flesh or lean meat 
and animal fats ; the former of which we will 
consider first. 

Lean meat is composed of the muscle of 
the animal. Stated roughly, lean meat is 
three-fourths water and one-fourth protein. 
The protein is composed first of connective 
tissue, which is a tough, fibrous substance 
that forms tendons and holds the muscle 
cells in place. Chemically, connective tissue 
is formed of albuminoids, which are some- 
what difficult to digest, and do not perform 
any important service in the nutrition of the 
body, as they cannot take the place of true 
proteid in tissue formation. 

The percentage of connective tissue de- 
pends upon the cut of the meat. As every 
housewife knows, the cheaper cuts of meat 
contain a larger amount of this material. 
The gelatine of commerce is a manufactured 
product derived from the connective tissue 
of animals. 



FLESH FOODS 237 

A second portion of the protein is in the 
form of globulin, myosin and other true pro- 
teids, which form the actual muscle sub- 
stance. These proteids form perhaps three- 
quarters of the entire proteid of meat, and 
are the most valuable food substance it con- 
tains. A very small portion of meat pro- 
teids is formed by the free albumins of the 
blood, which are mechanically retained in 
the muscle cells, the purpose of which is the 
nourishment of the animal, and, therefore, 
are not unwholesome as food. The fourth 
class of nitrogenous substances found in 
flesh foods is called meat extractives. 
Though they exist only in quantities of from 
1 to 2 per cent of the weight of the flesh, they 
are the most interesting from the standpoint 
of our discussion, because they are not pres- 
ent in any but flesh foods, and are products 
of cell life, hence not wholesome as food. 
They are composed of urea, uric acid, 
creatinin, etc., and are similar or identical 
to the waste products of human-cell metabol- 
ism. The amount of these substances con- 



238 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

tained in flesh depends upon the condition of 
the animal at the time of slaughter; being 
greater in animals in which the normal 
functions have been seriously disturbed by 
fatigue or fright. 

Meat extractives, which are physiological 
poisons, are the principal substances in meat 
extracts and beef tea. Their stimulating 
effect upon the body, like that of alcohol, is 
due to these poisonous properties. The use 
of beef tea for nourishing the sick is about 
as wise as the use of alcohol to keep one from 
freezing. Beef tea is but little more nour- 
ishing than urine, which it very closely re- 
sembles in chemical composition. 

The chemical composition of the various 
kinds of meat need not be elaborated upon in 
this work. The variation is not great ex- 
cept that due to the per cent of fat. 

The distinction between beef and mutton 
from the nutritive standpoint is of no con- 
sequence. Scientific facts do not show that 
one of these articles is particularly better or 
worse than the other. The use of pork has 



FLESH FOODS 239 

been generally condemned the world over. 
The reason for this is probably explained by 
the prejudice of tradition and religion, 
rather than by any scientific facts. 

The chief distinction between pork and 
other meats is that the former contains a 
much larger percentage of fat. Pork is 
usually prepared by frying, while pork fat 
is largely used in the preparation of other 
foods — a process of preparation that is ex- 
ceedingly harmful, and which no doubt has 
reflected much upon pork as an article of 
food. The prejudice against swine because 
of the jSlthy habits of the animal is more a 
matter of sentiment than of science. The 
hog is not an unclean animal if given a 
chance. Corn and alfalfa fed pork is, so 
far as science knows, fully as wholesome as 
beef or mutton, if prepared in similar 
fashion. 

Animal Fats 

The use of animal fats outside of those 
consumed as fat meat is confined chiefly to 



240 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

their use as shortening in bread and pastry, 
and for the purpose of cooking other foods 
by the process of frying. These uses of fats 
are not to be commended regardless of the 
nature of the fat. As the fats from animal 
carcasses in any form are not palatable, 
there can be very little use for them in an 
approved dietary. The chief distinction be- 
tween animal and vegetable fats is in the 
proportion of olein compared with stearin 
and palmitin. The proportion of the two 
latter elements is much greater in the fats 
of pork and beef than in those of the human 
body. This is especially true of tallow. For 
this reason vegetable fats, which are of a 
more liquid nature, are more desirable, 
where we wish to add fatty tissue to the 
body, than those of animal origin. 

Cold Storage of Meat 

Only a very small amount of the meat pro- 
duced in America is consumed near the place 
of slaughter. Refrigerator cars have been 
constructed for the purpose of preserving 



FLESH FOODS 241 

meats until they can reach their destination, 
and large cold-storage plants erected to hold 
it, awaiting market advances for the benefit 
of packers and tradesmen. Meat in cold 
storage slowly undergoes decomposition, 
and, as is well known, storage meat will 
decay much more rapidly after its removal 
than will fresh meats. The process of ripen- 
ing meat in rooms of varying temperature 
depends upon this decomposition. The nat- 
ural enzymes of the meat, and the bacteria 
contained, digest a portion of the proteids, 
forming nitrogenous decomposition prod- 
ucts, similar to the meat extractives above 
referred to. Ripened or storage meats con- 
tain a larger per cent of this group of com- 
pounds than does fresh meat. 

The high flavor of ripened meats depends 
upon the odor produced by this decomposi- 
tion process. There are certain species of 
bacteria that produce more poisonous waste 
products than others, and this occasionally 
causes the development of ptomains in cold- 
storage meat. 

16 



242 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

The use of cold-storage or ripened-animal 
products is to be condemned. Nevertheless, 
if people insist upon using flesh food, and 
economic conditions make it profitable to 
produce meats far from the place of con- 
sum.ption, the use of cold-storage meats 
seems inevitable. 

Contagious Diseases and Animal Food 

Much has been said regarding the con- 
traction of contagious diseases from eating 
the flesh of diseased animals. This risk has 
been much magnified in the public mind. 
Flesh is seldom taken in an uncooked form, 
and disease germs are destroyed in most 
flesh foods by cooking. The cooking proc- 
ess, however, must be thorough. The heat 
must be sufficient to coagulate the proteids. 
The interior of a slice of rare beefsteak has 
not reached this temperature. 

The most dangerous form of disease con- 
tamination from fresh flesh food is that of 
trichinosis. Trichina are worm-like crea- 
tures, the first stage of whose growth is in 



FLESH FOODS 243 

the flesh of swine. When taken into the 
human digestive organs they are revived and 
bore their way through the walls of the 
digestive organs to complete their growth in 
the human muscle tissue. Trichinosis is one 
of the most fatal of diseases. 

Tape-worms have a similar origin. There 
are several species, some being derived from 
pork and some from beef. The tape-worm 
cyst or larva is embedded in the muscle of 
the diseased animal, and when not killed by 
heat will hatch out and live in the human 
intestine. 

Tuberculosis is the most prevalent disease 
among animals, especially cattle. The flesh 
of the diseased animal is contaminated with 
the tubercle bacillus, and there is now but 
little doubt of the transmission of the disease 
from the bovine to the human by means of 
this infected meat. In spite of the fact that 
a surprisingly large proportion of all cattle 
are infected with tuberculosis, only a com- 
paratively small number are thrown out by 
the government inspectors as being tuber- 



244 STJNCOOKED FOOD 

culous. That a great amount of such in- 
fected meat is sold to innocent consumers is 
certain. On the other hand, a natural diet 
and life in the open air will cure tuberculo- 
sis, whereas living in close, dark rooms and 
eating meat and drinking alcohol are among 
the chief predisposing causes in the develop- 
ment of this disease. 

Fish 

Under this heading we will consider both 
true fish and other water creatures, such as 
shellfish, frogs, lobsters, etc. 

The flesh of most fish is quite free from 
fat, and consists almost entirely of water 
and proteids. Fish is less concentrated than 
the flesh of warm-blooded animals, averag- 
ing about 18 to 20 per cent of proteids. The 
percentage of ash in fish is also somewhat 
greater than in other flesh foods. The pre- 
vailing idea that fish is good food for the 
brain was founded upon the fact that analy- 
sis of some fish show a considerable percent- 
age of phosphorus, which substance is also 



FLESH FOODS 245 

found in the brain. There is no reason to 
believe, however, that the use of fish affects 
in any manner the brain tissue. Any well- 
balanced diet contains ample phosphorus to 
nourish the brain. 

The argument against the use of meat be- 
cause of the presence of nitrogenous decom- 
position products holds true with fish, 
though in a modified degree. The decom- 
position products of cold-blooded animals 
are not identical with those of mammals, and 
hence their presence in the human body does 
not add to the percentage of human waste 
products in the same manner as other meats 
do. 

Because of the fact that oysters and clams 
are frequently eaten uncooked, they are 
often commended as a valuable source of 
proteid. The serious objection to the use of 
these things, especially uncooked, is that 
they are grown in the sea, often around our 
harbor entrances which are usually flooded 
with sewage, and hence they are liable to be 
contaminated with typhoid or other disease 



246 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

germs. The amount of actual food value in 
shellfish is quite small. They contain only 
about 10 per cent of proteids, and as the re- 
mainder is water they are scarcely worth 
considering as a source of nutriment. 

Poultry 

In the use of domestic and wild fowl as 
food the same general conditions obtain as 
in the case of the flesh of animals. There 
are a few special points, however, concern- 
ing poultry that are worth considering. 

The production of chickens and other do- 
mestic poultry is one of the most widespread 
American industries, and is capable of being 
carried on in communities too thickly set- 
tled for the economic production of beef and 
other meats. 

Another point to be observed in the use of 
poultry as food is, that because of the ease 
with which every farmer and villager can 
keep a flock of chickens, it is possible for 
him to have fresh meat of his own produc- 
tion; otherwise, if he used flesh foods, he 



FLESH FOODS 247 

would be compelled to depend upon the va- 
rious meat products of unknown age and 
origin which the general markets afford. 

Another reason why the use of poultry 
from the hygienic standpoint is less objec- 
tionable than the flesh of the mammal is that 
the amount actually consumed is usually 
much smaller than other forms of meat. 
According to the old idea of economy and 
diet, this would be a serious argument 
against the use of poultry products, but as 
has been clearly pointed out, the most 
serious criticism that can be urged against 
the modern bill of fare is the use of large 
quantities of meat. The chief reasons that 
keep meat upon the bill of fare are matters 
of custom and taste, and not of hygiene. 
From this viewpoint we see why that form 
of meat food which is pleasing to the taste, 
without adding any great quantity of actual 
flesh food to the diet, is a step in the right 
direction. 

The methods of feeding poultry or other 
animals by shutting them up in small quar- 



248 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

ters and feeding upon soft mush foods is 
condemned by many upon the ground that 
it is unnatural and harmful to the health of 
the fowls, and, therefore, the meat could not 
be wholesome. The facts are, this process, 
if not carried too far, will produce a quality 
of meat less harmful than the meat of thin, 
ill-fed animals. For the reason that the 
greatest objection to the use of animal foods 
is the presence of the unexcreted waste prod- 
ucts, and these are present in small quanti- 
ties when little muscular exercise is taken. 
For similar reasons, the flesh of young ani- 
mals is preferable to old ones. The white 
meat is in all cases preferable to dark, as its 
properties are more like eggs and milk — are 
stored animal food substances rather than 
flesh with its metabolic poison. Of all meats 
eaten, liver and kidneys are the most abun- 
dantly filled with decomposition poison 
products. The same general statements re- 
garding domestic poultry apply to the use of 
wild game. The amount of actual food 
value contributed to the world by the slaugh- 



FLESH FOODS 249 

ter of game is comparatively small. A simi- 
lar amount of vegetable food could be pro- 
duced at one-tenth of cost of time and ex- 
pense without slaughtering the wild crea- 
tures of our forests. The present popularity 
of hunting as a sport, and the regard of all 
wild animals as rare and dainty articles of 
diet, is but the expression of the vainer and 
less worthy sentiments of man's nature. It 
is a step backward toward savagery instead 
of forward toward a higher civilization. 

The custom of flesh eating would entirely 
disappear from the catalogue of civilized 
habits in less than twelve months vf ere it not 
for the fact that flesh foods are made edible 
by the process of cooking. People might eat 
shellfish, dried and smoked meat a short 
while, but it would not long endure. This 
would also solve several other great ques- 
tions with which misguided individuals, so- 
cieties, churches, political parties and State 
legislatures are vainly struggling, for the 
habit of flesh eating is largely responsible 
for the universal desire among civilized peo- 



250 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

pie for some form of stimulant. This crav- 
ing supports and perpetuates the habit of 
taking distilled and ardent liquors, tobacco, 
tea and coffee, and the numerous drugs 
which, all together, have done the human 
race more harm, dethroned more intelli- 
gence, sapped from the human economy 
more vitality, ruined more homes, made 
more widows and orphans, and changed 
more natural virtue into artificial vice, 
caused more sorrow and tears, more failures 
and fears, than all other agencies of destruc- 
tion put together. 

That the habit of flesh eating is respon- 
sible for the almost universal desire for 
stimulants and narcotics has ceased to be 
questioned by those who have been placed in 
position to make experiments, from which 
all real knowledge is obtained. These con- 
clusions were first forced upon the writer 
by noticing the gradual disappearance of the 
appetite for coffee and tobacco in his own 
case when he began to experiment upon him- 
self with natural foods. With this hint to 



FLESH FOODS 251 

work with, no opportunity was lost among 
the thousands of patients he has treated to 
observe the effects, and get at the truth, 
along these lines. If one or two people had 
completely lost their appetites for all forms 
of stimulants, after going upon a natural 
food regime, it might have revealed only an 
idiosyncrasy. When a half dozen or a 
dozen undergo the same treatment with the 
same results it suggests that it might be true. 
But when hundreds give the same evidence, 
with no apparent deviation from this gen- 
eral rule, it forms one of those cases where a 
new truth is revealed from the chaos of our 
alleged civilization. Such has been the ex- 
perience of the writer in the responsibility 
of cooking and meat eating for the perpetua- 
tion of alcoholism and kindred evils. 



NON-FLESH FOODS OF ANIMAL 
ORIGIN 

Eggs and milk occupy an unique place 
among foods ; they are animal, yet they are 
not flesh foods. The purpose which milk 
and eggs serve in nature throws much light, 
even to the unscientific mind, upon their nu- 
tritive value. 

Living creatures do not exist for the 
benefit of other forms of life, but for them- 
selves only. The lumber in our homes owes 
its existence to the plant's struggle for sun- 
light, which made it necessary for the trees 
to possess a strong storm-withstanding stem 
to hold aloft its leaves above the shade of 
other foliage. The leaves and stems of grass 
are essential to the life of the plant, and 
were not created as food for cattle. 

The majority of human foods of plant 
origin represent the nutrient material sup- 
plied by the parent plant for the early life 



FOODS OF ANIMAL ORIGIN 253 

of the seedling. All grain, nuts, fruits and 
tubers are merely modified forms of food 
material adapted to the rapid nourishment 
of the young plant. For this reason the 
starch and oil of seeds, the sugar of fruits 
and the lesser quantities of nitrogen con- 
tained in all seeds are in a more available 
form for cell nourishment than would be the 
mature portions of the plant. 

Milk and eggs in the animal world occupy 
a position identical to that of seeds and 
fruits in the plant kingdom ; that is, they are 
created for the first nourishment of the off- 
spring. In the process of evolution a fun- 
damental distinction between birds and 
mammals is in the manner in which the 
young are nourished. The egg of the bird 
supplies sufficient nourishment to develop 
the young to a point where they can exist 
upon the ordinary food of the adult, while 
in the mammal this nourishment is supplied 
by milk. 



254 suncooked food 

Eggs 

The lien's egg must contain all food mate- 
rial necessary to form all portions of the 
body of the young chick, and to supply it for 
a time with heat and energy. An average 
egg weigh 2 ounces ; of this weight about 10 
per cent is shell, 30 per cent yolk, and the re- 
mainder white. The white of the egg is 
composed of albumen and water. The yolk 
consists of globulin, egg fat and lecithin; 
this latter substance contains a considerable 
proportion of phosphorus, and is one of the 
essential constituents of brain and nerves. 
The egg, as a whole, without shell contains 
13 per cent of protein, 10 per cent of fat, and 
1 per cent of ash, and about 77 per cent of 
water. 

The growth of the animal body compared 
with the amount of energy expended is more 
rapid, the younger the animal. For this 
reason the percentage of nitrogen in milk 
and eggs is much too great to form a bal- 
anced adult diet, and should be supple- 
mented by articles containing larger propor- 



FOODS OF ANIMAL ORIGII^ 255 

tions of heat-producing materials, prefer- 
ably carbohydrates. 

The proteid material of eggs is in a form 
especially adapted to the construction of 
new cells. For this reason it is one of the 
best foods known for use in cases of emacia- 
tion, where new tissue is to be added rapidly 
to the body. 

Under the personal observation of the 
writer, patients have been known to gain at 
the rate of a pound a day on a diet composed 
almost entirely of eggs and milk, with just 
enough of other articles to meet their chemi- 
cal requirements. In case of malnutrition 
and emaciation of the body, there is no food 
known superior to eggs for rebuilding and 
revitalizing the body and overcoming pre- 
vious errors of diet. 

Fresh eggs contain no "extractives " or 
other harmful substances. Stale eggs are 
open to the same criticism as ripened or 
stored meat, but, fortunately, owing to the 
sulphur contained, eggs always become re- 
pulsive to the sense of smell before decom- 



256 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

position has proceeded far enough to render 
them unwholesome. 

Spoiled eggs are frequently deodorized by 
criminal dealers and sold to bakers and used 
in bakery products. Many cases of poison- 
ing have been traced to this cause. 

Eggs, considered as a food product, are 
much superior to flesh foods. The white of 
the egg is almost pure albumen, and is 
readily digestible and assimilable; there- 
fore, it can often be digested by those who 
are suffering from disorders of the digestive 
and assimilative organs when no other form 
of nourishment can be taken. 

Eggs are especially the food for growing 
children and those who are between the ages 
of twenty and thirty years. The best way 
they can be used or prepared, is to whip to a 
very fine froth, taken alone or with a very 
limited quantity of fruit juices, cream and 
sugar. Eggs will combine readily with 
nearly every other article of food. 

The quantity of eggs that can be used in a 
normal diet depends upon the amount of 



FOODS OF ANIMAL ORIGIN 257 

nitrogen desired. An egg contains about 14 
decigrams of nitrogen. Thus it is seen that 
from eight to ten eggs will supply an ample 
amount of nitrogen for the daily needs of 
the body were none taken from any other 
source. 

The consumption of five eggs per day, 
when we rely wholly upon this article for 
animal proteids, is sufficient for one taking 
a normal amount of exercise, while from two 
to three per day are sufficient for one pur- 
suing sedentary occupations. 

Milk 

Milk and the various forms of manufac- 
tured products made therefrom constitute 
one of the most important groups of food in 
the modern bill of fare. Milk and eggs have 
been excluded by some vegetarians, but out- 
side of the sentimental feeling against foods 
of animal origin, there are no good reasons 
for these interdictions. Dairy products are 
free from the particular objections urged 
against the use of flesh foods and form a 

17 



258 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

source of easily assimilable nutriment that 
excels, at least for certain purposes, any 
foods from the vegetable kingdom. 

It is true that the use of milk by man can- 
not strictly be called a natural food, as it is 
clearly evident that before man became 
civilized enough to keep domestic animals 
dairy products were unknown. 

The constituent elements of cow's milk 
vary greatly. Dairy cows, by long and 
careful domestication, scientific breeding 
and feeding, have been brought to a high 
state of specialization. Some classes of cat- 
tle have been bred for large quantities of 
milk, Holstein cows having been known to 
produce 100 pounds of milk per day, which, 
of course, is many times the quantity re- 
quired for the nourishment of a calf. The 
Jersey breed has been selected for the quan- 
tity of butter fat contained in the milk. 
This often runs to abnormal percentages, 
being in some cases as high as 8 to 10 per 
cent, whereas the normal or average butter 
contents would not be more than 3% or 4 
per cent. 



FOODS OF ANIMAL ORIGIlSr 259 

The average composition of mixed milk 
from many cows which forms the commer- 
cial product, runs about as follows : Water, 
87 per cent; lactose or milk sugar, 4.5 per 
cent; butter fat, 3.5 per cent; ash, .7 per 
cent ; proteids, 3.3 per cent, of which about 
2.5 per cent is casein and .8 per cent albumin. 

Commercially, the value of milk has been 
measured almost entirely by its content of 
butter fat. This idea is not altogether cor- 
rect, for the chief value of milk as a food 
lies in its nitrogenous elements. Fat can be 
secured equally well from many other 
sources. Milk proteids are especially valu- 
able, and cannot easily be supplanted in the 
diet. 

Milk, like eggs, forms an unbalanced 
article of diet for adults, though the distinc- 
tion is not so great, as milk contains some 
carbohydrates. Milk is intended for the 
nourishment of the young animal at a later 
stage of development than is the egg, and 
hence contains a slightly larger proportion 
of the energy-making substance. A calf 



260 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

romping in the pasture would require more 
energy-producing materials than a chick in 
the shell. The milk of various animals va- 
ries much in composition, depending upon 
the natural requirements of the young of 
their respective species. 

Milk is as nearly a perfect food as any ar- 
ticle now known, but, as I have before 
pointed out, the diet for an adult should con- 
tain more carbohydrates in proportion than 
is found in milk. The large amount of 
casein in cow's milk tends to cause coagula- 
tion in lumps that are difficult of digestion 
in the human stomach. This tendency can 
be counteracted in several ways. If milk 
is allowed to sour or clabber, the casein 
coagulates, and it can then be taken into the 
stomach without danger of being formed 
into curds by the gastric juice. Sipping and 
thoroughly insalivating the milk instead of 
drinking it, as one would water, also reduces 
the curdling in the stomach and insures bet- 
ter digestion and less liability to the forma- 
tion of gas. 



FOODS OF ANIMAL ORIGIN 261 

Milk harmonizes in the stomach with all 
non-acid fruits, cereals, nuts and all vege- 
tables containing starch. Milk should not 
be combined with acid fruits, especially the 
highly acid kinds, such as lemons, limes, 
grape-fruit, pineapples, etc. Neither should 
it be taken at the same meal with meat, ex- 
cept in very limited quantities, nor should it 
be used with green salads. 

When the stomach has been over-bur- 
dened with a quantity of inharmonious com- 
binations of food until the mucous mem- 
brane has become irritated and probably 
ulcerated, there is no food so acceptable as 
milk. For the common disorder of hyper- 
chlorhydria, which is a term used to describe 
a condition of chronic sour stomach, milk is 
one of the best counteractive foods known. 

When adults have long violated the 
dietetic laws of over-feeding — consuming 
large quantities of food and drink that have 
been devitalized by fire and fermentation — 
milk is, in many cases, the one food that will 
restore a normal condition. Especially is 



262 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

this true in advancing age, when the body 
has little use for energy producing foods. 

When milk is taken for the purpose of 
counteracting a congested condition of the 
bowels or an irritated condition of the 
mucous membranes of the stomach, it should 
be combined with the fewest possible things. 

Adulteration or Milk 

The practice of adulterating milk with 
water has very largely ceased, owing to the 
surveillance of city authorities and the pass- 
ing of laws that fix legal standards requir- 
ing milk to contain a certain percentage of 
fats and total solids. 

The chief form of criminal tampering 
with milk has been the use of preservatives 
to prevent souring. Formaldehyde has 
been used very extensively as a milk preser- 
vative. This substance is a poison, destruc- 
tive to all cell life, and has been the cause of 
great prejudice against the use of milk as 
food for children whose delicate organisms 
are very susceptible to poisons. 



FOODS OF ANIMAL ORIGIN" 263 

The pasteurization of milk is a process of 
heating for the purpose of destroying possi- 
ble disease germs and the lactic acid bac- 
teria. In pasteurization the milk is heated 
to about 170° F. ; it is not boiled for the 
reason that boiled milk is distasteful, and 
would readily be detected by the public. It 
is evident that the practice of pasteuriza- 
tion, which would cause coagulation of the 
protoplasm sufficient to kill the bacteria, 
would also coagulate the albumin, rendering 
it difficult of both digestion and assimilation. 

Cooking milk is recommended by certain 
alleged dietetic authorities on the ground 
that it kills bacteria. They probably forget, 
maybe do not know, that all the five digestive 
fluids are strongly germicidal. The bacteria 
that may exist in milk, of which so much 
fear is entertained, could not live an instant 
after coming in contact with the gastric 
juice, which is strongly acidulous, to say 
nothing of contact with the saliva, bile and 
pancreatic and intestinal juices. 

Milk, however, should be taken with some 



264 suJsrcooKED food 

intelligence. A valuable lesson in its proper 
use can be learned from the calf or nursing 
infant, which draws and swallows it in small 
quantities, and which keeps up a continuous 
motion of the jaws, as if in chewing, thus 
pumping into the mouth enough saliva to aid 
nature in the first process of digestion, and 
at the same time increases the flow of diges- 
tive juices in the stomach and intestines. 

The too free use of boiled or sterilized 
milk mil produce scurvy in children, and 
when scurvy exists both sterilized and raw 
milk must be discontinued. It is, therefore, 
much better to commence at once the use of 
milk in its natural condition than to risk the 
development of scurvy, and then be com- 
pelled to eliminate from the diet such a 
valuable food. 

Sterilized milk lacks freshness. It tastes 
dead, and to a very great extent is dead. 
The coagulation of the proteid molecules 
that takes place in boiling sets free the inor- 
ganic portion of the molecules, thus render- 
ing them, as to iron and flourine, unabsorb- 



FOODS OF ANIMAL OKIGIN 265 

able, and as to tlie phosphates, imassimilable. 
The use of sterilized milk becomes especially 
serious when it is remembered that children 
require both phosphatic and ferric proteids 
in a living form, which are contained only in 
the natural or uncooked milk. 

The proteids of cow's milk are not wholly 
suited to the human infant, being too high 
in casein and too low in albumin. Neither 
is there enough milk sugar in cow's milk for 
the human infant. By the humanizing of 
milk for infants is meant its alteration to de- 
crease the casein and increase the milk 
sugar. This is accomplished by taking the 
top half of a bottle of milk and adding an 
equal volume of water and 3 to 5 per cent of 
milk sugar. The exact proportions and 
concentration should depend upon the age, 
weight and general condition of the child. 

Cheese, Butter and Oleomaegaeine 

Cheese consists of the coagulated casein of 
milk, together with the fat globules that may 
be mechanically retained. Cheese is made 



266 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

by coagulating the mill^ with rennet, which 
has been extracted from the stomach of a 
calf, the sugar of milk being passed off in 
the whey and lost. 

Smear-case, or cottage cheese, is formed 
by allowing the milk to sour or coagulate by 
gradual warming. This form of cheese is 
usually made from skimmed milk, and hence 
contains practically no fat. 

The cheeses of commerce are ripened in 
various ways. The process of ripening 
cheese is due to the action of enzymes pres- 
ent in the milk or formed by bacterial 
growth. Eipened cheese is considered to be 
more easily digested than the unripened 
product. About the best that can be said of 
this process is that the ripening of cheese is 
perhaps the least objectionable of all proc- 
esses of decomposition taking place in food 
proteids. The only benefit that can be 
claimed is one of flavor, and in matters of 
flavor the appetite for limburger and other 
such cheeses is at least a cultivated or per- 
verted taste that furnishes no evidence of 
merit or nutrition. 



FOODS OF ANIMAL OKIGIN 267 

In the manufacture of cheese, the milk 
sugar and a part of the albumin and fat are 
wasted, and, as there is no advantage in tak- 
ing milk in this changed form, there seems 
to be little excuse for the use of cheese in a 
diet when fresh milk can be obtained. 

The fat, when removed from the other 
contents of milk, constitutes butter. Butter 
is very wholesome when not subjected to 
high degrees of heat, with other cooked 
foods. The custom of salting butter is 
wrong, and inexcusable from a hygienic 
standpoint. It had its origin, no doubt, in 
the fact that it became commercially neces- 
sary in order to preserve it during the time 
consumed in shipping, transporting and 
marketing. During the last few years fresh 
or sweet butter has come into general use in 
all large cities and well-appointed hotels and 
cafes. In Paris, where the culinary art is 
studied and kept at a higher standard than 
in any other city in the world, it is consid- 
ered an offense to serve salted butter. It is 
taken for granted that the article is aged and 



268 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

would have spoiled had it not been preserved 
with salt. 

Oleomargarine is a general term that in- 
cludes all manufactured preparations of 
fats which imitate dairy butter. At the 
present time there is an internal revenue tax 
of ten cents per pound upon the manufac- 
ture of oleomargarine that is artificially col- 
ored yellow to resemble butter. There is no 
good reason why oleomargarine should not 
be sold on the market when put out under 
its own name. The object of the govern- 
mental regulations is to prevent its being 
sold as butter. 

Oleomargarine is manufactured by com- 
bining beef fat with cotton-seed oil until a 
product is formed which has a melting point 
similar to that of butter. Lard is also used 
in some oleomargarine products. This com- 
bination of fats is then churned with cream 
or milk, and sometimes dairy butter is added 
to the artificial product in the process of 
working. The object of this latter opera- 
tion is to give the flavor or odor of dairy 
butter. 



FOODS OF ANIMAL OEIGIN" 269 

There is much popular prejudice against 
the use of oleomargarine, but it is practically 
as digestible and quite as wholesome as 
dairy butter. 



FOODS DERIVED FEOM PLANTS 

Cereals 

The literary fabric of the ancient world 
has been woven from warp of fiction and a 
woof of fact. When we turn to it we find 
the beautiful, the poetic, the absurd and 
the true so mixed together that scholars of 
every nation regard their separation as 
worthy of their most profound thought. 

It was from this confusion that the word 
'* cereal '' came. Ceres was a goddess wor- 
shipped by the ancient Romans. She occu- 
pies a most conspicuous place in the beauti- 
ful myths that adorn the classic literature of 
those ancient peoples. She was considered 
the head of the agricultural department. 
Her special duty was to sit on fleecy clouds 
and pour from the hollow of her mythical 
hand floods of sunshine and showers of rain 
over the grain fields of the Caesars. There- 



FOODS DERIVED FEOM PLANTS 271 

fore, all grains grouped together were called 
cereals. 

Cereals were first used as food by man 
only when in a green or soft state, that is, 
from the time the grains began to form in a 
milky condition until they ripened and be- 
came so hard as to hazard the integrity of 
the teeth. Later they were soaked in water 
to soften them, and then in warm water, 
which saved time and facilitated the work 
of preparation. This custom evolved into 
the use of hot water, then hotter water, until 
boiling or the present method of cooking 
was the result. 

In order to facilitate and lighten the labor 
in the preparation of cereals, they were 
pounded, crushed and broken, which custom 
very naturally evolved into the modern rol- 
ler mill. The present methods of grinding 
and cooking cereals render mastication un- 
necessary, so far as pulverizing them is con- 
cerned. Therefore, they pass the taste-buds 
under false pretences and the salivary 
glands do not have to perform their duties, 



272 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

hence they do not pour into the mouth the 
amount of saliva necesary to perform the 
first step in digestion. 

Soft, mushy foods are also responsible for 
the woeful decay of teeth, which is such a 
conspicuous mark of civilized man. Na- 
ture will not keep alive or produce, genera- 
tion after generation, any part of the 
anatomy that is not used. Her system of 
economy is perfect. 

When cereals are taken in their natural 
state, or not too completely pulverized, so 
that the teeth may be employed in their final 
and complete grinding, they constitute a 
valuable food for a normal, healthy person. 
This would also be better for the teeth, and 
make cereal substances much easier to digest 
and more thoroughly convertible into energy. 
Under the present dietetic regime, in which 
cereals are regarded as the staff of life, it is 
safe to say that more than 50 per cent of all 
stomach disorders are caused by mushy or 
unmasticated cereal starch. 

The variety of grain used depends upon 



FOODS DERIVED FROM PLANTS 273 

the climate and habits of the people. The 
predominant use of rice by the Asiatics, 
wheat by the Europeans, and maize by the 
American Indian, is so well known as to 
need no comment. 

Wheat is often stated to be a complete 
food. This, however, is not strictly true. 
Wheat contains only a very small percent- 
age of fat ; and while fat can be made in the 
body from carbohydrates, it is more natural 
and entails less work upon the digestive or- 
gans and liver if the diet is balanced so as to 
contain all the nutritive substances the body 
needs in the right or natural proportions. 

All of the digestible carbohydrates of 
wheat are in the form of starch. A diet 
composed of wheat alone would contain 70 
per cent of this food, which, while perfectly 
wholesome, is digested with difficulty. The 
proteids of wheat exist in larger quantities 
and in greater variety than that of most any 
other grain, but the wheat proteids are more 
difficult of digestion than the proteids of 
milk, eggs or nuts. 

18 



274 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

Wheat varies greatly in composition, ac- 
cording to the variety and locality in which 
it is produced. This fact is not known by 
the average writer upon dietetics, who 
spends a great deal of time eulogizing wheat 
as the wonderful staff of life, because his 
food table tells him that wheat contains 13 
per cent of proteid, while corn only contains 
10 per cent. As a matter of fact, much of 
the Pacific Coast wheat, largely used in the 
manufacture of cereal foods, contains less 
protein than corn. On the other hand, the 
macaroni wheats, produced in South Da- 
kota, contain as high as 18 per cent of pro- 
tein. 

Rye, as a whole, may be considered in a 
class with wheat. Botanically, the plants 
are similar, and so far as known the effects 
upon the body are not very different. Rye 
contains a larger per cent of cellulose and 
somewhat less gluten, and for this reason it 
is more laxative than wheat. 

Baeley is very similar to wheat and rye. 
It is, perhaps, somewhat less laxative than 



FOODS DERIVED FEOM PLANTS 275 

either, because it contains less cellulose. It 
cannot be used alone as a bread-making 
grain because the nitrogenous or glutinous 
substances are not tenacious enough to hold 
the loaf when it raises. For this reason it 
has been greatly neglected as a food product. 
Barley deserves a decidedly more important 
place in our dietaries than it has hitherto 
been accorded. The most palatable form in 
which to eat barley is as an uncooked flake. 

Oats. The composition of oats varies 
somewhat from the above-mentioned grains. 
Oats contain a larger proportion of both fat 
and proteids, and form a desirable food if 
eaten in the proper manner. The objection 
to oats as an article of diet is the manner in 
which they are commonly used as food. 
Rolled oats and oatmeal are prepared for 
the table by cooking hastily, which forms a 
doughy mass consisting of gelatinized 
starch entangled with the peculiar gummy 
proteid of the oat grain. This mass is a 
most prolific source of disturbed digestion, 
for mechanical as well as chemical reasons. 



276 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

Rolled oats, wheat and barley are delicious 
when served uncooked with cream, grated 
nuts and, if something sweet is desired, 
dates, figs or raisins. 

CoEN is the cheapest material capable of 
nourishing the human body that is produced 
in the temperate zone. It is less digestible 
and more deficient in mineral salts than the 
grains thus far mentioned. It is not an un- 
wholesome food material, but there is noth- 
ing to be gained except cheapness in sub- 
stituting it for other grain products. The 
mature corn grain is very dry and hard, and 
somewhat unpalatable. Corn in the future 
will probably play an increasing part in the 
problem of feeding the world as a cheap raw 
material from which to manufacture glu- 
cose. 

Rice is lower in proteids than any of the 
food grains, and is also low in fat. The 
starch of rice is quite easily digested, more 
so, perhaps, than any other form of grain 
starch. Rice is ahnost entirely devoid of 
mineral constituents, and for this reason it 



FOODS DERIVED FROM PLANTS 277 

is productive of serious nutritive derange- 
ments. Proteids and salts from other 
sources are largely cut off. Before science 
pointed out this difficulty the rice diet was 
productive of serious physical disorders in 
the ranks of the Japanese navy. 

The use of grains in the diet may be con- 
sidered from three factors: First, as a 
source of energy; second, as a source of 
nitrogen ; third, as a means of regulating in- 
testinal peristalsis. All grains contain from 
70 to 80 per cent of starch, and, therefore, 
the question of energy is one rather of as- 
similating the energy contained than of the 
amount present in the original material. 
The use of grains in the diet deserves the 
most careful consideration, and the study 
should not be confined so much to the par- 
ticular grains as to the quantity and the 
energy which can safely be derived from 
these sources. The conventional American 
diet is composed of such an abnormal 
amount of grain starch, and is prepared in 
such an imscientific manner, that it has be- 



278 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

come one of the most prolific sources of 
stomach and intestinal disorders with which 
I have had to deal. In a great munber of 
cases it becomes necessary to prohibit cereal 
starch entirely, except in specially prepared 
forms, and then in very limited quantities. 

Grain, as a source of proteids, has re- 
ceived undue consideration in hygienic writ- 
ings. The actual differences in the percent- 
ages of proteids or nitrogen in the various 
kinds of grains, or in flours or breakfast 
foods, is hardly worth consideration. Grain 
is not the natural source of proteid for the 
human body, and grain proteids are not so 
easily digested as those of eggs, milk and 
nuts. The nitrogen content of grains is not 
nearly so important an item to consider in 
deciding the kind of grain food as the ques- 
tion of fermentation and intestinal conges- 
tion or constipation. 

The primary objection to cooked grain 
is that it induces over-consumption of 
cereal starch, which is the chief cause of in- 
testinal congestion, and the long train of ills 



FOODS DERIVED FROM PLANTS 279 

that follow tMs condition. The greatest 
virtue of taking grains in their natural state 
is that it first limits the consumption, and, 
second, it relieves and often cures intestinal 
congestion and many sympathetic disorders. 

Nuts 

Nuts, one of the best articles of food 
known to science, the thing which helped to 
lift primitive man from a gibbering anthro- 
poid to the Greek Apollo, are by many peo- 
ple, the most misunderstood and maligned 
articles in all the dietetic catalogue. The 
nut is commonly used now, and for many 
decades has been used, as a confection, or to 
finish off the alleged good dinner ; and while 
in all probability it was the only decent 
article of diet eaten during the feast, yet, 
owing to its geographical position in the 
** potpourri," it was charged up with a lot 
of mischief for which it was in no wise re- 
sponsible. 

There are many intelligent people who 
sincerely believe the nut to be an indigestible 



280 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

and harmful article of food, and we quite 
agree with them when it is eaten as course 
thirteen at a prize dinner. But when given 
an opportunity, and eaten as a decent nut 
should be, it is one of the most delicious, 
harmless, healthful and hygienic articles 
that ever graced the table. 

It is encouraging, however, to know that 
the nut is rapidly gaining in appreciation 
and popularity. The great food reform 
movement that is now sweeping over nearly 
all the civilized world has caused thousands 
of people to abandon the use of flesh foods, 
and the natural substitute therefor is nuts. 
In any large market can be found to-day 
from fifteen to eighteen different kinds of 
nuts, all of which possess very superior life- 
giving properties. Nuts are especially to 
be recommended as an article of food, owing 
to the fact that they have not been contami- 
nated by the cook stove. 

Nuts should be thoroughly masticated. 
They should be reduced by the teeth to per- 
fect emulsion before entering the stomach, 



FOODS DERIVED FEOM PLANTS 281 

and not more than two ounces eaten at a 
meal. Two vienos of pure fat is enough to 
supply the demands of a normal body for 
twenty-four hours. By consulting our table 
on nuts, a correct idea can be gained as to 
the quantity of each variety that should be 
consumed per day. Almonds, peanuts and 
Brazil nuts should be blanched before eat- 
ing, that is, the inner covering should be re- 
moved by soaking in tepid water. 

Botanically speaking, nuts are the seeds 
of trees and shrubs which store the greater 
proportion of the food material for the seed- 
ling in the form of vegetable oil. There are 
few miscellaneous articles of food that are 
known by the name of nuts which do not 
primarily belong in this group. In the fol- 
lowing discussion, we will take up the va- 
rious nuts in order of their general worth as 
food products. 

Pine Nuts include several species of nut 
from as many different kinds of pine tr^es, 
and many different countries. The Italian 
pine seed or nut, which is sometimes known 



282 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

as the pignolia, or in its refined form as the 
protoid nut — a name given to it by the 
author owing to the large per cent of pro- 
teids it contains — possesses the highest per 
cent of proteid material of any article of 
food known. Its chemical properties are as 
follows : 34 per cent proteid, 47 per cent oil, 
9 per cent carbohydrate, 4 per cent ash, and 
6 per cent water. The protoid nut, while 
containing pound for pound the most nitro- 
gen of any known food, has a lower nitro- 
gen factor than the foods in which the fat is 
replaced by water, as in eggs and skim milk. 
This same point should be noted in consult- 
ing the analysis of all nuts which contain a 
large amount of fat that supplies energy in 
the most condensed form. Hence the nitro- 
gen factor, which is the relation between 
nitrogen and energy, is often lower in nuts 
than in grain. Another advantage of pro- 
toid nuts over all other species is in their 
softness, which renders them more easily 
masticated, and hence more readily soluble 
and digestible. The protoid nut is grown 



FOODS DEEIVED FEOM PLANTS 283 

on the crown lands of Italy, in a very nar- 
rowed area of country, along the north coast 
of the Mediterranean Sea. 

The forms of pine nuts found in the south- 
western United States are not so rich in pro- 
tein as the protoid nuts, but in other respects 
are excellent food. The American pine nuts 
are not marketed extensively, as the crops 
are irregular and expensive to gather. 

The Pecan, which is one species of hick- 
ory-nut, contains 13 per cent of protein and 
70 per cent of fat. It is a very delicious and 
desirable food, though somewhat inferior to 
pine nuts and almonds in digestibility and 
as a source of nitrogen. 

The pecan nut, which has been considered 
in the South for many decades as a wild, 
prodigal growth of no great importance, is 
now being cultivated, harvested and hus- 
banded as one of the most profitable, as well 
as one of the most important, articles of 
food grown in that balmy clime. 

The Agricultural Department of our na- 
tional government has published bulletins 



284 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

on the subject of budding and growing the 
pecan, and pecan orchards are being planted 
in various localities in the South, and several 
States have adopted measures to encourage 
the industry. During the next few years 
this movement will undoubtedly receive the 
attention it has so long merited. It looks 
as though within the next few years we 
might see the boundless plains of Texas con- 
verted into pecan orchards instead of cattle 
ranches, and great pecan-shelling mills take 
the place of slaughter houses. 

The Almond is a most desirable food. It 
contains 17 per cent of nitrogen and 54 per 
cent of fat. The flavor is very agreeable 
and the nuts, in digestibility, rank next to 
protoid nuts. They can be substituted for 
each other in dietaries. 

Soft-Shelled or White Walnuts are 
commonly known as ^' English walnuts," 
though they are chiefly grown in France and 
California. These nuts contain 24 per cent 
protein and 63 per cent fat, and form one of 
the staple nut foods of both Europe and 



FOODS DERIVED FEOM PLANTS 285 

America. Hickory-nuts, Brazil nuts and 
butternuts are of similar food value to wal- 
nuts. 

Filberts or Hazel ISTuts are quite differ- 
ent from the previous variety of nuts, and 
are less digestible. They should be masti- 
cated exceedingly fine, and should not be 
taken by those whose digestion is particu- 
larly weak. Filberts contain 15 per cent of 
protein and 65 per cent of fat. 

Chestnuts are distinct from the other 
nuts because of the fact that their chief food 
value consists of starch rather than oil. 
This makes them of less value as a food. 
The small quantity commonly used, how- 
ever, does not overburden the system with 
starch as would a full meal of potatoes or 
bread. I, therefore, consider them a proper 
adjunct to the diet. 

Cocoanut is a product of the palm tree and, 
while quite distinct from our nuts of the 
temperate climate, is a very valuable and 
abundant food which deserves a more uni- 
versal use. Cocoanut is about one-half fat 



286 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

and contains 6 per cent of protein and 28 
per cent of carbohydrates. Cocoanut should 
be well masticated, as the substance is ex- 
ceedingly fibrous. 

It is amazing to think of the kind of food 
that alleged civilized people subsist upon, 
when nature spreads before them its vast 
fields and stores of fruits and nuts that have 
waved to and fro in the pure air and sun- 
shine, that have drawn their substance from 
old Mother Earth and filtered it through a 
hundred feet of pure white wood — life-giv- 
ing substance that has responded to the 
warm embraces of summer and spring — 
substance that has fed the swelling bud, 
burst it into bloom, and filled it with fra- 
grance and honey, sweet as Araby's fabled 
rose — foods born from the fecund womb of 
Mother Earth, fed on the fragrance and 
wrapped in the many-hued swaddling 
clothes of odorous blossoms, rocked by every 
pure and passing breeze in the life-giving 
cradle of summer and spring, nursed to ma- 
turity at the breast of maternal nature, and 
cooked by the fires of the eternal sun. 



foods derived from plants 287 

Leaves, Eoots and Tubers 

Experience has led me to the conclusion 
that leaves of vegetables containing chloro- 
phyll, such as lettuce, cabbage, spinach, 
parsley, etc., are very necessary and valu- 
able articles of food. Such vegetables can 
be taken in an uncooked or salad form and 
are very rich in the organic salts so essential 
to the maintenance of health. 

In the selection of foods, one of the safest 
rules to be governed by is that all articles 
that can be used as they are handed to us by 
Mother Nature, without offending the sense 
of taste and smell, are good food, and, on the 
contrary, all articles that have to be ground, 
mixed, fixed, cooked, greased, mushed and 
mussed up, are not only unnecessary, but 
could be eliminated from the diet to advan- 
tage. 

The essential value of the vegetable group 
of food materials is not one of the great food 
value per pound. Succulent vegetables con- 
tain anj^where from 75 to 95 per cent of 
water. It is rather the great variety of 



288 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

substances wMch are incorporated in fresh 
vegetables that gives them their chief value 
as food. The ordinary leaf of lettuce con- 
tains cellulose and proteids, active chloro- 
phyll, pentoses, sugars and starches, repre- 
senting carbohydrates in various processes 
of transformation, small quantities of fat 
and a relatively large per cent of mineral 
salt, besides numerous flavoring materials. 

Vegetables, as they grow in our gardens, 
may be conveniently grouped according to 
that portion of the growing plant which we 
consume. These groups are the leaf or 
salad vegetables, the roots and tubers, the 
fruit-like vegetables, and a fourth class 
might be made of the immature grains and 
legumes. The salad vegetables are very es- 
sential in a well-rounded bill of fare, and the 
neglect of their use is perhaps one of the 
greatest errors in dietetics. My preference 
of these salads is according to the following 
list : Spinach, lettuce, romaine, water cress, 
parsley, cabbage, turnip tops, beet tops, rad- 
ish tops, dandelion and kale. 



FOODS DERIVED FROM PLANTS 289 

The Irish or white potato is the only true 
tuber that is used extensively as human food. 
It is formed chiefly of starch and water. It 
is not palatable when taken in the uncooked 
form. Cooked potatoes are generally in- 
sufficiently masticated and combined with 
other food products with which starch does 
not harmonize. For this reason I deem the 
use of potatoes undesirable. 

The sweet potato is a root and differs 
chiefly from the Irish potato in containing 
more sugar and less starch. The sweet 
potato is more wholesome than the Irish va- 
riety, and I consider it one of the best of 
cooked foods. 

The root vegetables, given in the order of 
my preference, are : Carrots, turnips, beets 
and parsnips. Carrots are exceedingly pal- 
atable in an uncooked state, especially with 
nuts, and I highly recommend them when 
one is living entirely upon an uncooked bill 
of fare. 

Tomatoes may be considered upon the bor- 
der line between vegetables and fruits, and 

19 



290 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

I have found them exceedingly useful in 
cases of intestinal congestion and torpidity 
of the liver. Watermelons are wholesome, 
and can be used in the diet in a manner 
somewhat similar to the juices of berries and 
oranges. Ripe muskmelons and canteloupes 
are readily acceptable to the stomach, and 
can be eaten as freely as bananas. 

I have invariably found that the use of un- 
cooked vegetable substances has an exceed- 
ingly beneficial effect upon the digestive 
action and the general toning up of the 
system. This is not because of any large 
amount of nutritive imits, but because of the 
presence of a variety of appetizing, mildly 
stimulating and vitalizing substances which 
are not to be found in the conventional bread 
and meat diet of artificialized man. These 
elements are craved by the normal appetite, 
and must be supplied if we are to have the 
highest degree of health and physical 
vitality. 



foods derived feom plants 291 

Legumes 

Legumes are the product of a certain 
group of plants characterized by the pro- 
duction of seeds in pods. Beans and peas 
are the most familiar representatives of this 
group. Peanuts, though from the name er- 
roneously classed as nuts, are legumes, and 
very much resemble the other members of 
this group in chemical composition. 

Legumes are rich in nitrogen, and some 
varieties have a large percentage of oil, 
though decidedly inferior to true nuts in this 
respect. Legumes are not equal to nuts in 
food value. In their natural state they are 
hard, somewhat indigestible and impala- 
table. These qualities are due to the fact 
that the nitrogenous properties of legumes 
are radically different from those of nuts, 
and belong to a class not so desirable as food 
substances. For this reason legumes in the 
uncooked state have a flavor which is uni- 
versally objectionable, and when taken in 
liberal quantities they cause many digestive 
disturbances. Many vegetarians, upon dis- 



292 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

carding a meat diet, have substituted leg- 
umes as the chief source of nitrogen. By 
this change they have made little improve- 
ment, and in the case of weak digestion may 
actually suffer from the inability to derive 
suitable nitrogenous nourishment from this 
source. Fresh peas and garden beans are 
desirable products when eaten for variety, 
as are most other garden products, but they 
should not be made the chief source of nitro- 
gen in the diet. 

There are two legumes that are used very 
widely as foods and which, because of the oil 
contained, are better balanced and more nu- 
tritious than common beans and peas. The 
first of these is the peanut ; the second is the 
soy bean, which is used largely in Japan and 
China. These products are similar in com- 
position and contain about 30 per cent each 
of protein and fat. 

Fktjits 

Fruits occupy a most conspicuous place in 
the needs of the human body, and in subsist- 



FOODS DERIVED FROM PLANTS 293 

ing upon elementary foods, they constitute 
one of nature's most important articles of 
diet. 

It would astonish the average omnivorous 
Englishman or American to know what 
magnificent specimens of manhood are built 
almost entirely from fruits in some of the 
South Sea Islands. According to the most 
authentic history of man, fruits undoubtedly 
composed the principal part of his primitive 
diet. Primitive man was active, nimble and 
agile. Fruits left no deposits in his veins 
and arteries to age and stiffen them. Fruits 
made for him pure blood, and breathing the 
open air kept it pure. His surplus energy 
demanded activity which kept the pure blood 
surging through his veins. Long life, supe- 
rior power and endurance were the results. 

It is a hopeful sign for the future health 
and longevity of our race that the demand 
for and consumption of fruit is rapidly in- 
creasing. 

The banana will supply the body with all 
the elements of nourishment that is obtained 



294 SUIS'COOKED FOOD 

from cereals. Many cases of chronic stom- 
ach disorder have been permanently cured 
under the direction of the author by elimina- 
ting wholly all cooked cereals and breads of 
every description and substituting therefor 
the simple diet of very ripe bananas. The 
banana is at its best when the skin is cov- 
ered with small black spots, or when it as- 
sumes a pied appearance. Where the con- 
sumption of bananas is large enough, they 
should be purchased by the bunch, and 
where it is not, they should always be pur- 
chased by the hand, not detaching them from 
the stem until they are needed for use. They 
should also be kept in the sunshine as much 
as possible. 

It is believed by many people that bananas 
do not agree with them. Close observation 
will show in almost every instance that this 
condition is the result of other things with 
which the fruit is mixed in the stomach, and 
the seeming difficulty can be overcome by 
making an entire meal occasionally on 
fruits, or fruits and nuts alone. 



FOODS DERIVED FROM PLANTS 295 

The succulent class, such as apples, 
oranges, grapes, peaches, plums, pineapples, 
and all the juicy berries, possess great cor- 
rective properties, in addition to their value 
as food. They seem to be designed by na- 
ture to overcome the evil tendencies of many 
other foods, while giving to the body their 
own nutrition. 

Each distinct genera of fruit has a specific 
effect or office to perform in the human body. 
Oranges are the best '' liver pills '' ever in- 
vented, while apples are the best known 
remedy for that " dark brown " taste so 
often experienced next morning after the 
ten-course dinner. 

The juices of strawberries, blackberries, 
raspberries and dewberries are delicious and 
healthful. When it is pressed out and the 
refuse discarded, there is no better food in 
the fruit family. But the large amount of 
seeds these berries contain, which are very 
hard and entirely insoluble, produces in 
many people irritation of the mucous mem- 
brane of the intestinal tract, which mani- 
fests itself in many harmful ways. 



296 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

Grape-fruit contains many very pro- 
nounced and valuable nutritive and healing 
properties. It is a natural antidote for 
biliousness when taken without sugar. 

Like nuts, the most desirable feature 
about fruits is that they are not an arti- 
cle commonly considered necessary to be 
cooked. The cook has undertaken in many 
ways to improve them by the application of 
his art, but has been unsuccessful, as is 
evidenced by the fact that nearly all fruits 
are used in their natural or elementary state, 
even by those who advocate cooking even 
their drinking water. 

In subsisting upon uncooked foods we 
must necessarily depend very largely upon 
fruits and nuts, but we should exercise judg- 
ment, patience and toleration. We must re- 
member that we often suffered for our 
wrong eating, and accommodating nature 
may have partially adjusted our bodies to 
these incorrect habits. Therefore, when 
correct m^ethods of eating are employed, the 
wrong must be undone and overcome by the 



FOODS DERIVED FROM PLANTS 297 

same law of evolution, and the stomach 
sometimes rebels against a change even to- 
ward the right. However, the body will ad- 
just itself much quicker to the right than 
to the wrong, and when the adjustment is 
once made and the natural dietetic law 
obeyed perfect health, strength, endurance 
and vitality are the inevitable results. 

The chemical composition of fruits con- 
sists of about 80 or 85 per cent water, 5 to 
15 per cent of sugar, 1 to 5 per cent of or- 
ganic or fruit acids, and small quantities of 
protein, cellulose and numerous salts, a por- 
tion of which may be combined mth the 
fruit acids. Some unripe fruits contain 
starch and various other carbohydrate sub- 
stances, some of which are distasteful and 
unwholesome. On the other hand when 
fruits become over-ripe and decay has set in, 
the sugar is changed into carbon dioxide, 
alcohol and acetic acid, and the fruit rapidly 
deteriorates in wholesomeness and palata- 
bility. These changes, together with the 
loss of water, account for the sponginess and 



298 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

tastelessness of cold-storage and other long- 
kept fruits. Fruit is best when it has been 
allowed to ripen naturally on the trees, but 
modern commercial conditions demand that 
it be picked slightly immature and allowed 
to ripen on the way to or while being held for 
market. 

Fruit acids are composed of carbon, hy- 
drogen and oxygen, and are burned in the 
body the same as sugars or fats. The actual 
energy-producing contents of fruit is not 
large, and depends almost entirely upon the 
sugar contained. The dietetic value of 
fruits consists chiefly in combinations of 
salts, sugars, organic acids and various fla- 
voring or aromatic substances. These same 
salts, acids, etc., in their commercial form, 
and administered separately, would be of no 
value and might produce harmful results, 
but in combinations of ripe fruits they oc- 
cupy very important places in the diet. 

Dates, figs and raisins constitute a group 
of the best foods known to the dietary. 
They contain about 75 per cent sugar, which 



FOODS DERIVED FROM PLANTS 299 

is chiefly glucose or grape sugar, the prin- 
cipal source of power for the human system. 

Fruits should never be cooked. The folly 
of cookery and artificial methods of prepa- 
ration is more apparent in fruit than in any 
other article of food. 

The process of taking the water from 
fruits to prepare them from season to season 
is of great importance. It has added one of 
the greatest luxuries known to the uncooked 
bill of fare. Evaporated, dried or dehy- 
drated fruits, when soaked in pure water, 
may be restored to almost their original con- 
dition. Aside from the fresh or natural 
condition, this is perhaps the most palatable 
and wholesome form in which they can be 
taken. The methods of canning fruits, as 
practiced by the farmer's wife, are to be 
given next consideration. 

The ordinary commercial preparations of 
canned fruits, jams, marmalades, jellies, 
etc., are generally of a very inferior and 
doubtful character, and commercial compe- 
tition has reduced the standard until it is 



300 SIJNCOOKED FOOD 

almost impossible to ascertain the quality of 
these articles. The Pure Food Law has ac- 
complished much to establish honesty in the 
preserving and labeling of foods, but these 
products are still far from ideal, and should 
not be considered where fresh or evaporated 
fruits are obtainable. 

Sugars 

Sugar in its various forms is an universal 
food product. Sugars are the principal sub- 
stances contained in fruits, but we shall here 
confine our discussion to the various sugars 
and syrups as they appear in commerce. 

Beet Sugar. Contrary to common be- 
lief, the greatest proportion of the world's 
supply of sugar comes from the sugar beet. 
Sugar, which had been previously manufac- 
tured entirely from the maple sap and sugar 
cane, was discovered about 100 years ago to 
be present in beets. A very interesting his- 
torical fact is that the sugar beet industry 
owes its origin to the efforts of Napoleon to 
supply Prance with home-produced sugar 



FOODS DEKIVED FROM PLANTS 301 

because of the tariff or embargo laid upon 
foreign commerce. At the present time all 
of Central Europe is a heavy sugar-produc- 
ing region. The method of production and 
the amount of sugar contained in beets has 
been greatly improved, so that the present 
industry is quite able to compete with the 
production of cane sugar of the tropical re- 
gions. Crude sugar from sugar beets is un- 
palatable, and must be refined before it is 
fit for use. The refined or crystallized form 
of beet sugar is chemically identical with 
cane sugar. 

Sugar cane, though not as important as 
formerly, is still grown very extensively in 
Louisiana, Cuba, Mexico and other semi- 
tropical countries. The chief distinction be- 
tween cane sugar and beet sugar is that the 
crude cane sugar, before it is refined, is very 
palatable and a wholesome product. The 
brown sugar of commerce is uncrystallized 
or unrefined cane sugar, and is fully as 
wholesome, and to most tastes more pala- 
table than the granulated product. It is to 



302 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

be regretted that fashion has decreed that 
we should all use granulated sugar. 

Refined sugar, whether produced from 
beets or cane, is sometimes slightly contami- 
nated with sulphurous acid which is used for 
bleaching purposes. Indigo is also used for 
the same purpose, and while ordinarily not 
present in large quantities, is at least useless, 
and if present in any considerable amount is 
very objectionable. Powdered sugar is iden- 
tical with granulated sugar, with the excep- 
tion that it is ground. 

Maple sugar, which is made by concentrat- 
ing (boiling down) the sap of the soft maple, 
is a product decidedly superior in natural 
flavor to any sugar of the foregoing sources. 
Maple sugar contains a small proportion of 
glucose and levulose, but its chief distinction 
from other sugars is a matter of flavor. The 
hickory tree contains flavors somewhat simi- 
lar to the maple. A cheap substitute for 
maple sugar has been manufactured by fla- 
voring common sugar with the extract of 
hickory bark. 



FOODS DERIVED FROM PLANTS 303 

The other forms of dry sugar, which are 
obtainable in the market, are milk sugar and 
crystallized glucose. The chief use of milk 
sugar as an article of diet is in humanizing 
cow's milk for infant feeding. The dry 
glucose, or, as it is sometimes called, grape 
sugar, is not commonly seen in the market 
for the reason that it is difficult to crystal- 
lize, and hence it is much cheaper to market 
glucose in the form of sjrrups. 

Glucose 

Commercial glucose is made from starch. 
Its wholesomeness depends wholly upon the 
care exercised in its manufacture. Pure 
glucose is a good food. The manufacture of 
glucose is an excellent illustration of the 
substitution of science for nature in food 
manufacture. When we eat grapes we 
know that we are partaking of one of the 
most important substances required in the 
processes of life. Science has taught man 
to manufacture exactly the same substance 
that is found in the grape from the much 



304 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

cheaper product, corn. Were it not for the 
use of cheap materials and careless work- 
manship by unscrupulous manufacturers, 
this article would come into general favor as 
a food commodity. 

The best form in which sugar can be taken 
is in natural sweet fruits, honey, maple 
sugar and unrefined cane sugar. Maple, 
sorghum, cane and glucose sjrrups are per- 
fectly wholesome when free from foreign 
materials. 

The total amount of sugar that can be 
taken in the diet may rim to very consider- 
able amounts, but it should not be combined 
with starch products, especially cooked 
starch. The general condemnation of sugar, 
as an article of diet, is due to the fact that it 
is usually eaten with porridges, puddings, 
etc. This mixture is very apt to ferment in 
the stomach or digestive tract. 

Sugar can be taken with nuts forming an 
excellent combination. Sugar can also be 
taken with milk and eggs, helping to balance 
those articles and make them more suitable 



FOODS DEEIVED FROM PLANTS 305 

to human and especially to adult human re- 
quirements. The amount of sugar that can 
be taken each day depends somewhat upon 
the individual, but in the case of a strong, 
healthy adult, taking much exercise and hav- 
ing no particular desire to increase weight, 
sugar, chiefly in fruits, should furnish from 
one-fourth to one-half the total energy of the 
body. Experiment has proved that glucose 
can be taken in larger quantities than cane 
sugar; the latter product, however, should 
never exceed one-fourth pound daily. 

Confections. Under the general term of 
confections are included all products manu- 
factured for the purpose of appealing 
chiefly to the sense of taste, rather than to 
serve any special food requirements. The 
chief products that enter into confections 
are the various forms of sugars, nut kernels, 
flavoring extracts and coloring materials. 
Many of the substances used in the manufac- 
ture of confections are the most wholesom^e 
of food material, and yet the eating of con- 
fections as a general practice is to be con- 

20 



306 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

demned for several reasons ; first, the sub- 
stances that candy manufacturers use are 
unknown to the consumer, and hence the 
temptation to use cheap or adulterated mate- 
rial or to flavor and color the article is apt 
to govern the merit or quality ; second, can- 
dies are usually eaten without regard to ap- 
petite or the need of food ; third, the combi- 
nation of materials used in manufacturing 
confections is designed wholly for the pur- 
pose of appealing to an artificial sense of 
taste rather than natural hunger. 

Honey occupies a most unique place in the 
realm of food products, as it is practically 
the only food substance which man utilizes 
from the insect world. Honey is some- 
times compared with milk and eggs as a nu- 
trient. These former substances differ in 
being complete foods for the nourishment of 
young and growing animals, and hence must 
contain all food material necessary to con- 
struct the animal body. Honey, which is a 
carbohydrate, is slathered and used as a food 
for the adult bee. Pollen or bee-bread, 



FOODS DERIVED FEOM PLANTS 307 

which is a nitrogenous substance, is the food 
of the larva or young bee. This illustrates 
a very interesting fact in physiological 
chemistry. The insect differs radically from 
higher animals in that its life is divided into 
three complete stages. When the adult in- 
sect with its wings emerges from the cocoon 
or pupa, its growth is complete. Some in- 
sects never take any food in the adult stage. 
But the adult bee takes food, which is prac- 
tically pure corbohydrates, and which would 
not maintain the life of a growing animal. 

Honey is composed chiefly of glucose and 
levulose, with perhaps 10 per cent of cane 
sugar, depending upon the flowers from 
which it is gathered. Honey is one of the 
most wholesome forms of sugar laiown, and 
its delightful flavor makes it a very desir- 
able food product. A '^ land flowing with 
milk and honey " was the scriptural poet's 
idea of an ideal country. These are the only 
two things used by man which serve no pur- 
pose in nature except food. No better com- 
bination of foods was ever suggested by 
either poet or scientist. 



308 su:n"cooked food 

Vegetable Oils 

Vegetable oils form entirely too small a 
portion of the modern bill of fare. Fats 
are the best source of heat and energy of any 
class of food substances. Vegetable oils 
contain a large per cent of olein, which is 
considered the most palatable and the most 
valuable fat known. Vegetable oils are 
more valuable than animal oils as hmnan 
food, because they are more adapted to the 
fat metabolism processes of the body and 
less liable to contain harmful substances. 
For those who cannot thoroughly masticate 
nuts — because of defective teeth — vegetable 
oils afford one of the most necessary articles 
of diet. Nuts, unless mastication is perfect, 
do not contribute to the body all the fats they 
contain, while oils overcome completely this 
difficulty. 

The olive is an unique plant ranking as 
far as the nature of the food material goes 
between fruits and nuts. Eipe olives con- 
tain 40 to 60 per cent of oil ; the best quality 
of olive oil is extracted by cold pressure, the 



FOODS DERIVED FROM PLANTS 309 

cheaper grades being pressed out at higher 
temperatures. 

The superiority of olive oil is due to the 
fact that it is composed almost v^hoUy of 
olein, containing very little fatty acids and 
other impurities, and has a mild, sweet and 
agreeable flavor. 

Green olives have become a standard on 
the American table as pickles, but I do not 
recommend their liberal use. Ripe olives 
may occupy a conspicuous place on the sun- 
cooked bill of fare. 

Cotton-seed oil is a by-product of the cot- 
ton fiber industry. For this reason it is the 
cheapest of vegetable oils. Cotton-seed it- 
self is not an edible product, for the cotton- 
seed proteid contains an alkaloid substance 
which is unwholesome, and in large quan- 
tities poisonous. 

The methods of cotton-seed oil manufac- 
ture are more complex than those of olive 
oil. The oil must be heated and bleached 
with certain chemical agents, and if in- 
tended for salad or table use, a portion of 



310 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

the stearin must be removed to render it 
more liquid. 

Peanut oil is an excellent food substance, 
which is almost entirely neglected in this 
country. This oil contains the best portion 
of the nut. Other vegetable oils, that are 
valuable as foods, and the use of which is to 
be commended, are sesame and sunflower oil. 
These products are not produced extensively 
in this country. 

Cocoa butter is pressed from the beans 
from which cocoa and chocolate are made. 
The butter has a flavor similar to these prod- 
ucts. 

Cocoanut butter is not extensively used in 
America as a food product, for the reason 
that it becomes rancid too rapidly. The 
product is popular in Germany, and with 
the introduction of better methods of pres- 
ervation we expect to see it more exten- 
sively used in this country as a food product, 
as the sources from which it is derived are 
almost unlimited. 

Palm oil comes from a different species of 



FOODS DERIVED FROM PLANTS 311 

the palm plant than that which produces the 
cocoanut. Palm oil is a very inexpensive 
product, and one which is chiefly used in the 
production of soap and candles, although it 
is perfectly wholesome as a food. Such 
products have not been extensively utilized 
in this country as food, because people have, 
in the past, been content with the fat of the 
hog, commonly termed lard. 

It does not follow that all vegetable oils 
are edible or wholesome. Many vegetable 
oils contain, in addition to olein, stearin and 
palmitin, and other fats quite undesirable 
for food. Castor oil, for illustration, con- 
tains ricinolein, which is a poison, and to 
which its purgative action is due, nature 
abhorring a poison. Croton oil is very poi- 
sonous and the most powerful purgative 
known to science. 

Linseed oil contains large quantities of 
linolein, which is the substance that oxidizes, 
forming the stiff rubbery coat on the surface 
when exposed to the air. This makes lin- 
seed oil valuable as a painting oil, but ob- 
jectionable as a food. 



DRUGS 

By the selective processes of millions of 
years of evolution, chemical substances and 
chemical changes, which work together in 
harmony, have become associated to form 
the series of chemical transformations we 
call life. True food furnishes the founda- 
tion or constructive material on which these 
life processes depend. All other conditions 
that affect the human body are merely 
methods of disturbing these natural chem- 
ical changes. 

To illustrate, we will take the chemical 
changes that may take place in the hemo- 
globin of the blood. Hemoglobin is a pro- 
teid containing iron. It is a complex chemi- 
cal compound, and combines with other sub- 
stances very readily. In the lungs it com- 
bines with oxygen. In the muscles it parts 
with the oxygen, which in turn combines 
with the glucose to produce heat and energy. 



DRUGS 313 

This process is one of the thousands of life 
forming changes, selected by evolution from 
the millions of chemical possibilities in the 
universe. If carbon monoxide, which is 
present in illuminating gas, be breathed into 
the lungs it also combines with the hemo- 
globin, but produces a permanent compound 
which prevents the normal combination with 
oxygen and thus causes death. 

It is to this latter class of chemical 
changes, entirely foreign to the normal 
processes of life, that the effect of drugs be- 
longs. The stimulants, medicines, narcotics 
and drugs used by humanity owe their use 
to superficial reasoning, false guidance or 
misinterpretation of nature's language as 
expressed in symptoms. 

The principal argument against the use of 
patent medicines has been that they are evil 
because the user took opium, cocaine or 
whiskey without a doctor's prescription. 
Why taking a poison without a doctor's pre- 
scription should be dangerous, and its sale 
a heinous crime, whereas the sale and use of 



314 strisrcooKED food 

the same drug over a doctor's prescription 
should be tolerated, even highly commended, 
is something difficult to comprehend. It 
is not in line with human evolution to find a 
way to legally administer poisons, but rather 
to point out the folly of interfering with 
nature's work by dosing the human body 
with poisons of any kind. 

In order to give the reader who is not 
versed in chemistry a clear conception of 
the nature and effects of drugs, I shall dis- 
cuss briefly a few of the more important 
ones. For this purpose it will be helpful to 
group them into the following classes : (a) 
Alkaloids or narcotics, (b) alcohols and re- 
lated compounds, and (c) poisonous min- 
eral salts and acids. 

Alkaloids affect primarily the nervous 
system and may cause freedom from pain or 
that state of unnatural exhilaration of 
which the dreams of the opium fiend are a 
typical symptom. Alkaloids are all of veg- 
etable origin, and are composed of carbon, 
hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. 



DKUGS 315 

The second or alcohol group of drugs in- 
cludes the ethers, chloroform and coal-tar 
products. This group is also wholly of plant 
origin, alcohol being distilled from plant 
products and coal-tar being formed from 
petrified plants. These drugs always con- 
tain the three elements, carbon, hydrogen 
and oxygen ; some contain an additional ele- 
ment which gives them their peculiar prop- 
erty, as the chlorine of chloroform. Coal- 
tar is the most wonderful source of drugs 
known. The distillation of this substance 
produces coloring matters, preservatives, 
poisons and *^ pain killers," ad infinitum. 

The mineral acids and salts of certain 
metals, especially mercury, lead and copper, 
are powerful physiologic poisons. Patent 
medicines are frequently labeled ^' Pure 
Vegetable Compounds." This label has de- 
scended from the old days when the most 
potent drugs were taken from this mineral 
group. At the present time the label is 
amusing, for, while the mineral poisons in 
this group are still widely used in medicine, 



316 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

alkaloids and the acetanilide group of chem- 
icals, purely organic or vegetable com- 
pounds are a source of far more human mis- 
ery than all mineral drugs put together. 

Naecotics 

Opium is the sap of the seed capsule of a 
certain Asiatic species of poppy. It con- 
tains a large number of chemical compounds 
which belong to a group known as alkaloids. 
All substances of the alkaloid group in the 
animal body are disturbing fa^ctors. The 
most active alkaloid in opiima "or morphine 
and the general effects and uses of the crude 
opium, and the refined morphine, may be 
considered together. 

The effect of opimn or morphine upon the 
body is that of producing unconsciousness 
by benumbing the nerves. Opium addicts 
are pathetic examples of the progressive 
stages by which the body and mind may be- 
come enslaved to the influence of a narcotic. 

Opium is eaten or smoked by the Chinese 
and other Asiatic races to a fearful extent. 



DKUGS 317 

This habit is the worst form of drug slavery 
known. In this country the morphine habit 
is the more common form. Morphine is 
taken internally or injected beneath the skin 
with a hypodermic syringe. Nearly all of 
the morphine slaves in this country begin 
the use of this drug under their physicians' 
prescriptions. 

The use of opium as prescribed by medi- 
cal men is chiefly for the relief of insomnia 
or pain. The use of opium in cases of great 
agony produced by injury, etc., is an act 
where we can reasonably say that the end 
justifies the means. Unfortunately, this is 
only one of the uses to which opium is put 
by the medical profession. Prescriptions 
containing opimn or morphine are fre- 
quently given to relieve pain or to produce 
sleep, when the primary trouble is chronic 
and should be cured by removing the causes 
and not temporarily alleviated by stupefy- 
ing the nerves. The lengthy death lists due 
to the use of opium or any other narcotic 
include both those killed, sooner or later by 



318 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

the drug, and those who die from the disease, 
which is in this manner merely concealed 
but not cured. 

The dangers of the use of opium are so 
well known and the habit so universally con- 
demned that tricks are resorted to by manu- 
facturers of medicines to deceive the people 
into believing that they are using some 
** harmless " substance, while it is the influ- 
ence of the opium that gives the medicine its 
deceptive effect. Patent medicines, which 
claim to kill pain or soothe coughs and pro- 
duce sleep, usually contain opium. Millions 
of babies in this country have been given 
opium in the form of Mrs. Winslow's Sooth- 
ing Syrup, and the opium fiends produced 
and the graveyards filled by this fiendish 
compound can be imagined, but will never 
be accurately known. 

Cocaine is an alkaloid, the use and influ- 
ence of which are almost as noteworthy as 
those of opium. Cocaine is derived from the 
leaves of the cocoa plant, which grows in the 
Andes of Peru. 



DRUGS 319 

The effects of cocaine differ somewhat 
from those of opium. It produces absolute 
freedom from pain, and is used more par- 
ticularly to produce insensibility in local 
parts of the body, as in the case of extract- 
ing teeth, etc. The cocaine slaves, which are 
alarmingly on the increase in this country, 
commonly depend upon the hypodermic in- 
jection of the drug. The habit is usually ac- 
quired, as in the case of morphine, by the 
prescription of a physician. The patient 
learning from experience of the freedom 
from pain and the sense of exhilaration that 
can be produced by the drug, and believing 
it harmless because his doctor has prescribed 
it, continues the habit on his own responsi- 
bility after he has been dismissed by his phy- 
sician. The cocaine fiend, like the opium 
slave, develops an insatiable desire for the 
drug, and is in extreme physical torture 
when deprived of it. The development of 
untruthfulness and trickery in victims when 
they desire their allowance of the forbidden 
drug is one of the marked traits of the nar- 
cotic slave. 



320 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

There are a number of medicines in com- 
mon use which depend for their action upon 
the cocaine they contain. A large number 
of catarrhal powders in the market are di- 
luted forms of cocaine, and are used exten- 
sively both by those who do not realize the 
nature of the drug they are using, and by 
those who know that they are cocaine slaves, 
but prefer to disguise the fact in this 
manner. 

Nux Vomica is derived from the seeds of 
a plant that grows in India. Strychnine is 
the alkaloid which exists therein. Strych- 
nine is quite different in its effects from the 
above-mentioned alkaloids, and instead of 
benumbing the nerves, causing sleep or a 
pleasing sensation, the effect of strychnine 
produces nerve stimulus, which causes con- 
vulsions of the muscles. Death from strych- 
nine is caused by the muscles of the chest be- 
coming so rigid that breathing ceases. 

The medical use of strychnine is more for 
a stimulant than a narcotic. It is given only 
in desperate cases, where there is some hope 



DRUGS 321 

that the convulsive effect of stryclinine may 
cause the patient to revive. 

Quinine is derived from Peruvian or 
Cinchona bark. This bark contains a num- 
ber of alkaloids, as does the juice of the 
poppy plant. These alkaloids, in turn, may 
react with acids, forming salts. Sulphate of 
quinine is the most common form. Bromide 
of quinine is also extensively used. Quinine 
has one distinct and remarkable property 
that is worthy of note. I have repeatedly 
made the statement in my writings that 
drugs strong enough to kill disease germs 
will also kill the patient. This particular 
drug, in one particular case, is an exception 
to this rule. Quinine will kill the germs of 
malaria, which, however, are not bacteria 
(microscopic plants), but a minute form of 
animal life. Aside from this one particular 
use, quinine is a typical alkaloid, and its dis- 
turbing effect upon the nervous system is 
well known. Its extremely bitter taste is, 
perhaps, the reason we do not have quinine 
fiends. The extensive use of quinine is prob- 

21 



322 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

ably due to the fact that people observing its 
effects in malaria, infer that it will cure 
other fevers, which is not the case. 

Tobacco belongs strictly to the narcotic 
class. With the possible exception of 
opium, tobacco is by far the most detrimen- 
tal narcotic used by man. The active prin- 
ciple of tobacco is nicotine, which is an alka- 
loid. Nicotine is one of the most deadly 
poisons known. In distilled form, nicotine 
even in minute quantities, produces death 
almost instantaneously. The nicotine con- 
tained in a pound of tobacco is sufficient to 
kill several hundred men if administered in 
the form of pure nicotine, but in smoking 
and chewing tobacco only a small amount of 
this poison is actually absorbed into the 
body. The sickness caused by the first cigar 
is evidence of the poisonous effects of the 
nicotine upon a body not accustomed to its 
use. The quantity of nicotine that can be 
taken by the habitual tobacco user would be 
sufficient to kill a person in which the nico- 
tine habit had not been formed. 



DRUGS 323 

Tobacco as a narcotic is not so drastic in 
its hold upon the body as are opium and co- 
caine. For this reason the use of tobacco is 
not so generally condemned. Popular opin- 
ion, however, is now rapidly recognizing the 
fact that all these substances belong in the 
same general class, and are deteriorating 
factors in human development. The rapid 
spread of the cigarette habit among young 
boys has done much to arouse popular agita- 
tion against the tobacco evil. 

From the standpoint of health, nothing 
can be said in favor of the use of tobacco in 
any form. Pulmonary and stomach dis- 
orders with tobacco users are common exam- 
ples of its destructive tendencies. Tobacco 
is particularly detrimental to the optic 
nerves and sexual vitality. 

The use of tobacco gradually deadens the 
sensitiveness and control of the nervous sys- 
tem. The tobacco heart is an extreme effect 
upon the nervous system of this narcotic. 
The craving for tobacco is frequently asso- 
ciated with the craving for intoxicating 



324 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

liquors and highly seasoned food. These 
three factors go hand in hand in perverting 
the true sense of taste and arousing abnor- 
mal cravings which destroy natural appe- 
tite. 

Neither tobacco nor nicotine are now 
used extensively by medical practitioners. 
Tobacco was formerly used as a purgative, 
while nicotine was given in cases of strych- 
nine poisoning, the idea being that one poi- 
son would neutralize another. This theory, 
however, is becoming obsolete. 

Coffee belongs to the group of narcotic 
substances. The alkaloid which gives coffee 
its characteristic properties is caffeine. 
Coffee also contains 3 or 4 per cent of tannic 
acid. Other substances in coffee, to which 
the pleasant odors and tastes are due, are 
various forms of fats and carbohydrates, but 
these in the real coffee berry exist in small 
quantities, and their beneficial effects are 
more than counteracted by the harmful ef- 
fect of caffeine. The physiologic effect of 
caffeine is that of a nervous stimulant, in- 



DRUGS 325 

creasing the general nervous and mental 
activity. It is given as an antidote for 
opium poisoning because it produces an op- 
posite eiSfect in regard to sleep. Coffee, 
when used habitually, causes many nervous 
disorders. Many forms of indigestion, dys- 
pepsia, and especially hypersecretion of hy- 
drochloric acid, are caused by the coffee 
habit, the tannic acid being the chief provok- 
ing factor. The effect of coffee upon the 
nervous system is that of continued stimula- 
tion or excitation. When used regularly, 
coffee overworks and wears out the nervous 
system, thus causing a deterioration of both 
body and mind. If caffeine was taken in a 
highly concentrated form, it would result in 
a narcotic habit quite as enslaving as the use 
of opium or cocaine. 

Tea is very similar in its chemical compo- 
sition to coffee, containing even a greater 
percentage of the alkaloid caffeine, and also 
a larger per cent of tannic acid. Tannic acid 
is present in green tea in greater quantities 
than in the black variety. In addition to the 



326 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

evil effects caused by the caffeine which it 
contains, tea is more destructive of the nor- 
mal activities of the stomach because of this 
tannic acid. The reader may get some idea 
of what the stomach of the tea user has to 
contend with when it is stated that tannic 
acid gets its name from the essential action 
that this substance has in the process of tan- 
ning leather. 

Cocoa and Chocolate. The cocoa bean, 
which was mentioned as a source of choco- 
late and cocoa butter, is also the source of 
the beverage known as breakfast cocoa. The 
cocoa bean contains caffeine, though the per 
cent is considerably less than in the case of 
either coffee or tea. Cocoa is practically 
free from tannic acid. For these reasons, 
and because of the food value, cocoa is de- 
cidedly the least harmful of the narcotic 
beverages. This, perhaps, explains why 
cocoa, though being in reality more tasteful 
and nutritious than either coffee or tea, is 
less used; it lacks the stimulating or exhil- 
arating effect which is sought by a great ma- 
jority of people. 



DRUGS 327 

Coca Cola is a soda fountain drink that 
has recently come into extensive use. It 
contains an alkaloid similar to those of cof- 
fee, tea, cocoa, but in much larger quanti- 
ties. Coca Cola has an enslaving effect sim- 
ilar to that of opium and cocaine, although 
f ortimately not so severe. 

The alkaloids thus far discussed will serve 
to illustrate the general use and properties 
of this class of substances. We will men- 
tion briefly the other more commonly used 
articles in this list of enslaving drugs. 
Laudanum is another name for opium. 
Paregoric is a tincture of opium with cam- 
phor and other drugs. Codeine is an alka- 
loid manufactured from morphine. Lyos- 
cine is the alkaloid or henbane. Atropine is 
an alkaloid extensively used by oculists. It 
is contained with other alkaloids in bella- 
donna which, in turn, is prepared from the 
plant popularly known as the ** Deadly 
Mght Shade." Hellebore is one of the old 
standard drugs and contains several severe 
and poisonous alkaloids. 



328 suncooked food 

Alcohols 

The uses and effects of alcohol will not be 
discussed at length in this volume for the 
reason that this subject is constantly 
brought before the public, and the evil ef- 
fects of alcohol are known to all. I will 
mention only a few points which are not 
generally understood. The question of 
whether or not alcohol is a food has recently 
received much discussion. The answer of 
science is that alcohol is a food in the sense 
that it can produce heat in the body. Star- 
vation is not the danger that threatens man- 
kind, but over-feeding and wrong feeding. 
To a man in danger of starvation, whiskey 
at $1.00 a quart will not save the day. In 
practice alcohol is invariably taken in addi- 
tion to, and in connection with, other food 
material, and, therefore, its production of 
surplus heat within the body and the over- 
stimulating of metabolism is harmful, and 
adds one more to the long list of detrimen- 
tal effects traceable to intoxicating liquor. 
Alcohol is a food in the sense that dynamite 



DRUGS 329 

is a fuel. Dynamite produces heat, but it 
would be an unwise fireman who would use 
it under his boiler. 

Another point regarding the use of alco- 
hol that is worthy of serious consideration, 
is the fact that improper nutrition, over in- 
gestion of stimulating and heating foods, 
such as meat, condiments, etc., invariably in- 
creases the appetite for intoxicants. The 
appetite for alcohol seldom, if ever, devel- 
ops in a perfectly nourished body, and the 
best cure known for the drink habit is a 
course of scientific feeding and hygienic 
methods of living. 

Alcohol is a typical stimulant. Its influ- 
ence is to increase the heart action, the cir- 
culation, the production of heat and the 
general vital activities. When the influence 
of alcohol has run its course there is a re- 
lapse or stupor, which can only be relieved 
by restimulating the vital functions by con- 
tinued use of the intoxicant. 

This demand for increasing quantities of 
the drug that causes the stimulating or other 



330 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

abnormal effects upon the body is a law 
whicli holds in the case of all drug habits, 
and explains the so-called ^' appetite " for 
drugs. The abnormal effect produced 
leaves the body in a state of exhaustion, 
which causes the deluded victim to return to 
the drug day after day until the craving is 
beyond his control. At each repetition more 
of the drug is required to produce the same 
effect. This leads to a larger and larger use 
of the stimulant, and a greater and greater 
relapse or exhaustion after its influence has 
passed away. 

Thus the stimulation of the nervous ac- 
tivities, which in its milder stages produces 
the good-natured loquacity of the ^' jolly 
drunk," ends in the wild ravings of delirium 
tremens. The temperance people would do 
well to go into their laboratories and study 
causes instead of spending so much nervo- 
mental force in dealing with effects. They 
would be entitled to the prof oundest respect 
of the thinking world if they would solve 
the question of why people desire intoxi- 



DKTJGS 331 

cants, instead of trying to close a few rum- 
shops by calling on the police. 

No man or woman who will live for six 
months on pure, clean, suncooked foods can 
possibly keep alive an appetite for stimu- 
lants or narcotics. From this rule there is 
absolutely no variance. There can be no 
room in the human body, a body made of 
nature's unchanged foods, for such foreign 
elements as tobacco and rum. 

The prescription of alcohol by physicians 
is chiefly descended from the old idea that 
alcohol was strengthening and beneficial to 
the body. The practice is now discontinued 
by the majority of reputable physicians. 
The regular use of alcohol in small doses 
gives the patient the feeling of physical ex- 
hilaration, and is an excellent means of mak- 
ing him believe that he is being cured. For 
this reason, and because of its cheapness, 
low-grade alcohol is the chief component of 
patent medicines. 

The following table gives the percentage 
of alcohol contained in a few patent medi- 



332 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

cines previous to the enactment of the Pure 
Food Law: 

Peruna 28% 

Hostetter's Bitters 44% 

Lydia Pinkham's Compound 20% 

Hood's Sarsaparilla 18% 

Ayer's Sarsaparilla 26% 

Paine's Celery Compound 21% 

Within the last few years these facts have 
been heralded before the public, resulting in 
a heavy falling off of the sales of these nos- 
trums. The number of good temperance 
people who have been innocently under the 
influence of alcohol for a good portion of 
their days can only be estimated by counting 
the Peruna bottles in back yards. 

Chloroform, Ether and Chloral are 
three drugs chemically related to alcohol. 
They are typical anesthetics, and produce 
temporary relief from pain when the vapors 
are inhaled. They find their chief use in 
surgical operations, a use which is justified, 
providing the operation is justified. One 
death in 3000 occurs from the administra- 
tion of chloroform, and one in 13,000 from 



DEUGS 333 

the administration of ether. These prod- 
ucts have been used to some extent in patent 
medicines, particularly consumption cures. 

AcETANiLiDE is an article made from coal- 
tar, and is chemically related to aniline dyes. 
This drug is one of the most remarkable in 
its physiologic effects of all the narcotic 
group. It has only come into use mthin the 
last few years. Its effect is to produce at 
first a deadening of the nervous system, 
which puts it in the " pain-killer '^ class. Its 
continued use destroys the hemoglobin of 
the blood, and produces marked cell-destroy- 
ing effects throughout the body. Its medical 
use is for rheumatism, headache, severe 
coughs, etc., etc. Some doctors say it will 
cure epilepsy ; others say not. 

Many of our readers are familiar with the 
placard, '' Orangeine Headache Powders," 
which flourished before the public the glar- 
ing statement, ** We print our formula," 
and so they do, and acetanilide is one of the 
ingredients so announced. The Orangeine 
people were safe in printing this formula, 



334 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

because the public does not know what acet- 
anilide is. If they achieved the same results 
by cocaine or morphine they would not dare 
to print their formula. The use of acetani- 
lide in headache powders is one of the most 
glaring crimes of the patent medicine busi- 
ness. 

A non-medical writer recently compiled 
an authoritative death list of something like 
twenty cases in which death was positively 
known to be due to the use of headache pow- 
ders. The headache powder habitue experi- 
ences a craving for the drug similar to other 
narcotic drug fiends. A person who has 
long used acetanilide powders shows a blu- 
ish-white complexion, caused by the destruc- 
tion of red blood corpuscles. I have selected 
acetanilide as an example to show that a 
knowledge of the composition of patent 
medicines does not protect the people imless 
the people know more about the destructive 
drugs they contain. Acetanilide is also ex- 
tensively sold in the form of the popular 
^' Bromo-seltzer." 



DRUGS 335 

other coal-tar products which have prop- 
erties related to those of acetanilide are anti- 
pyrin, phenacetin and various derivatives of 
benzol and phenol. The general uses of 
drugs of this class are to reduce fevers, allay 
pains, etc. They accomplish this by inter- 
fering with the natural action of the ner- 
vous system. 

Mineral Poisons 

Mercury or quicksilver is used very ex- 
tensively in medicine, chiefly in compounds 
of mercurial salts. All salts of mercury are 
very poisonous. Calomel (mercuric chlo- 
ride) is used widely as an internal medicine. 
Mercuric bichloride or corrosive sublimate 
is more destructive to protoplasm, and is 
used chiefly as an external germicide or dis- 
infectant. The poisonous action of mercu- 
rial salts is due to the combination of the 
mercury with the protoplasm of the bodily 
cells. When mercurial compounds are 
taken in poisonous doses, the antidote is the 
white of egg, with which the mercury com- 



336 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

bines in the stomach, thus sparing the hu- 
man protoplasm. The mercurial salts, when 
given in small doses, produce very remark- 
able physiological disturbances, notably in- 
salivation (loosening of the teeth). Mercu- 
rial compounds are used by doctors as a sort 
of last resort. Because of the profound 
physiological changes produced, these prod- 
ucts have been generally administered in 
cases of incurable disease ; probably because 
the new symptoms of mercurial poisoning 
masked and disguised the original disorder. 

Potassium iodide has a similar remarka- 
ble destructive effect upon the natural func- 
tions of the body, and for this reason it has 
been associated with mercury. The medi- 
cinal treatment for syphilis, a disease recog- 
nized as incurable, is to alternate between 
potassium iodide and mercurial salts. 

The salts of lead and of copper, like those 
of mercury, are poisonous. These salts have 
not found so extensive use in medicine, how- 
ever. The mineral acids, such as sulphuric, 
are recognized poisons, as well as are the 



DRUGS 337 

strong alkalies, but their destructive effects 
upon the living tissue are so apparent and so 
painful that they have never gained much 
reputation as medicine. There is one excep- 
tion to this statement, however; it is ** liquo- 
zone," which is the basis of the most remark- 
able patent medicine fraud ever floated. 
This stuff was heralded as a cure for all ail- 
ments in the calendar of disease, and has 
been especially proclaimed as the twentieth 
century cure for consumption. Liquozone 
is made by passing the fumes of burning 
sulphur into water. This forms an impure 
mixture of sulphurous and sulphuric acids 
— ^two of the cheapest and most common 
drugs known. Sulphuric acid is an excellent 
germicide, and is extensively used to disin- 
fect stables and chicken houses. Liquozone, 
however, is a little too weak for this pur- 
pose; if made sufficiently strong to kill 
germs, it would blister the human tongue. 

Liquozone costs about one-half cent a 
bottle; it sells for $1.00. 



22 



338 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

PUEGATIVES AND CaTHAKTICS 

The popular term '' salts '' includes sodi- 
um sulphate (Glauber's Salt) and magne- 
slum sulphate (Epsom Salts). These salts 
cause to be excreted from the mucous mem- 
brane of the intestines a large amount of 
watery mucus, the physiological purpose of 
which is to wash the offending substances 
from the body. This produces a purgative 
effect. Were the large doses of these salts 
commonly taken absorbed into the blood, 
death would result at once. 

The number of drugs that are prescribed 
for the purpose of relieving constipation is 
almost unlimited. Any poison which reacts 
directly upon the mucous membrane of the 
alimentary canal has a laxative effect. 

In reality, laxative drugs do not act upon 
the body — ^the body acts upon them. In 
throwing out the drug, the food residues of 
the digestive tract are also thrown out, 
whether digestion is complete or not. The 
loss of weight when taking physic is due to 
this loss of food. 



DKUGS 339 

The reason alkaloids and other more 
subtle poisons are not laxative is because 
they do not produce their effect until they 
reach the nerve centers. Laxative drugs 
may occur in almost any group of chemical 
compounds. Two are oils — croton oil and 
castor oil. The pills, candy cascarets, etc., 
on the market are usually made by mixing 
several drugs of a purgative nature, the idea 
being if one does not do the v^ork desired the 
other will. 

In this chapter I have enumerated only a 
score or so of the many thousand drugs used 
by the medical profession. To discuss the 
entire list would require a volume many 
times larger than this. I have omitted many 
drugs whose properties and uses would be 
interesting and instructive, but the writer's 
work is to impart a knowledge of foods, not 
drugs. 

If the reader would secure at a public li- 
brary a copy of the *' National Standard 
Dispensatory," the text-book used by pre- 
scription druggists, and scan through its 



340 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

2000 pages, lie would realize how unscientific 
and hazardous is the method of combating 
human ailments with drugs. In the thera- 
peutic index of the above volume are listed 
the more common disorders which affect 
mankind, and for each disorder is given a 
list of from a dozen to a hundred drugs 
which are used by the medical profession to 
drive from its habitat the " evil spirit of dis- 
ease." For everything, from corns to con- 
sumption, the drug-doctor prescribes every- 
thing from catnip tea to strychnine. Verily 
the inconsistencies of the mind of man are 
marvelous and inexplicable. 

There is one means of combating disease, 
which in the popular mind is sometimes con- 
fused with the unnatural drug system here 
discussed. I refer to the methods of pre- 
venting and combating contagious diseases 
by modern sanitation and disinfection, or 
the wholesale slaughtering of disease germs 
outside the body. These results depend, not 
upon the ignorant and harmful theories 
upon which drug medication was founded, 
but upon the latest scientific knowledge. 



DEUGS 341 

I am heartily in favor of combating dis- 
ease by cleaning our streets, foul cellars, 
tenements and filthy packing houses ; and if 
carbolic acid, quicklime and bichloride of 
mercury can help along in the process, then 
we can thank modern science that drugs, 
which man originally sought out with which 
to poison himself, have at last f oimd a place 
of real usefulness. 

But dosing the human body with drugs is 
another matter. Doctors who invented 
drugs to fit the " devil theory " of disease 
now use the germ theory to frighten people 
into submitting to drug treatment. But, in 
reality, no one knows better than do the doc- 
tors that destroying a disease germ in the 
human body would also destroy the human 
cells; for both disease germs and bodily 
cells are formed of protoplasm, and can only 
be killed by a protoplasm-destroying drug. 
What usually happens in drug medication 
is that poisons are given in doses too small 
to kill either patient or disease germ. The 
process weakens both, but the patient being 



342 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

the slower-growing organism generally suf- 
fers the more. 

As disease germs in the blood cannot be 
killed by drugs without killing the man, the 
doctor who prescribes drugs to cure disease 
is either ignorant or is wilfully practicing a 
fraud. Perfectly healthy people do not con- 
tract contagious diseases for the reason that 
disease germs cannot live in pure blood. 

Pure blood is the only means known to 
science whereby disease germs in the body 
can be conquered. Natural foods make pure 
blood, which is the most potent factor known 
in the cure of contagious diseases. The 
wisest and safest plan to prevent contagion 
and infection is to keep the blood pure. It 
is then highly germicidal, as nature intended 
it to be. 

Condiments 

The use of condiments originated in the 
desire to supply something that was missing 
in the taste of cooked food. This is not to 
be wondered at, for in the process of cooking 



DRUGS 343 

the nature of many food products becomes 
so changed that they taste flat and insipid. 
A sweet turnip or carrot, if well masticated, 
is delicious in its natural state, but when 
cooked it seems to need salt or something to 
give it flavor and life. 

In boiling or cooking in heated water the 
mineral elements are dissolved and lost in 
the water, which is usually discarded, so we 
endeavor to restore to them that which we 
have destroyed. In the use of suncooked or 
natural foods the taste readily accepts them, 
and the appetite becomes a perfect guide as 
to the quantity of food necessary under the 
varying conditions of man's civilized en- 
vironment. 

Many people go through the world and 
eat three meals a day until they have marked 
off their threescore years and ten, and never 
know the real taste of the commonest article 
of food. The use of condiments, the pouring 
of some mixed-up mess of something over 
foods, in the vain hope of making them bet- 
ter, seems to have become a kind of unac- 
countable insanity. 



344 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

Of all the errors and stupid blunders that 
people have made in their foolish e:^ort to 
fix up foods, the condiment habit, next to 
cooking, has the least excuse for existence. 
Think of taking a pure article of food and 
pouring over it a muddy-colored liquid con- 
cerning which we know not when, where or 
of what it is made. The imagination fails to 
answer why. 

Most individuals in polite society are ex- 
tremely careful about their persons. Their 
dress must fit just so, it must be made of cer- 
tain choice material, the linen must be spot- 
less, the colors with which they bedeck them- 
selves must harmonize. They are extremely 
careful about their companionship. Their 
house must face a certain way, and the fur- 
nishings must be just right. They are very 
cautious about what they say. They are 
very jealous of their opinions. They select 
with much care their language. They will 
not venture out in threatening weather. 
They restrict themselves in every conceiv- 
able thing. They put the chain upon nearly 



DRUGS 345 

all their liberties, and try hard sometimes 
to manacle the liberty of others. But these 
same wise people will sit in a fashionable 
cafe and dine upon an undrawn, cold-stor- 
age turkey that has been a year dead, and 
pour over its ancient flesh a tar-colored 
fluid that was made somewhere in Europe, 
and that has been upon the shelf of a grocer 
until it has reached that limit of delicious 
decay suggested by the green, slimy mildew 
in Roquefort cheese. 

All condiments, especially stock sauces 
and dressings, vinegar, mustards and such 
things, possess absolutely no constructive 
property, but all of them possess to a very 
large degree the elements of decay and de- 
struction. The great increase in stomach 
and intestinal diseases among the American 
people is largely due to the habit of using 
condiments. 

The use of condiments is followed by two 
other very pronounced evils: First, they 
cause an irritation of the mucous mem- 
branes of the stomach, which excites false 



346 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

appetite and causes over-eating — ^the origin 
of a majority of human ills. 

Second, they deprive the taste-buds of 
their rights, thus lessening the desire for 
perfect mastication. 

One of the first steps in adopting a reform 
or hygienic dietary is to eliminate from the 
bill of fare all condiments, hot sauces and 
such stuff. Remember their origin is not 
very respectable. They seem to have been 
created for the purpose of covering up some- 
thing which we instinctively regard as un- 
clean. 

Drugging Foods 

Foods may be adulterated and not seri- 
ously injured. There are isolated cases 
where by adulteration they may be made 
even less harmful, as in the case of pepper, 
coffee and other stimulants, irritants and 
narcotics, but these exceptions are rare. 

Adulteration, artificial coloring, the use 
of preservatives and the limitless number of 
drugs and chemical compounds used in cor- 



DRUGS 347 

rupting the natural article so as to make it 
appear that it is not, or to make it conform 
to some virtue falsely advertised to deceive 
trusting people into purchasing it, all origi- 
nate in greed for gain. This may well be 
called *' The Crowning Crime of the Age." 
It marks the most depraved branch of 
American commercialism. 

It is a well-known fact that the best-paid 
chemists in this country are hired to adul- 
terate, to preserve, to color and poison food 
rather than to purify, protect and lift the 
standard of its life-giving value. 

Think of a human being spending days, 
months and years in his laboratory or over 
the experimental crucible, employing his 
brain and genius, not in trying to better the 
condition and promote the happiness of his 
fellow creatures, but in compounding some 
concoction that will swindle, deceive and 
poison the helpless babe, the innocent youth, 
the hopeful maiden and man, and those 
weighted with the burden of years; and yet 
the scientist or chemist who has worked out 



348 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

this nefarious scheme is a shining star of 
virtue compared with his criminal master 
who feeds out this perverted provender to 
the American people — ^the most tolerant race 
beneath the sun. 

For his corrupted wares he gets a price — 
gets money, with part of which he can buy- 
food and shelter, and with the balance of 
which he can flaunt himself in conspicuous 
array before the eyes of his fellows. For 
this he gains their envy rather than their 
love and respect. 

Scientific study of food diseases, and the 
effort to relieve them, has brought these 
crimes to my attention with an emphasis 
that is appalling. 

The poisonous coloring, preservatives and 
baser matter used in all kinds of canned, 
preserved and pickled fruits, vegetables, 
meats and bread materials is a matter of 
common knowledge. In a few years from 
now, when the American people have given 
to the food question the place it deserves — 
made it the most important of all the sci- 



DKUGS 349 

ences — ^the disgrace we are now tolerating 
will be overthrown, and the names of the 
greedy charlatans who poison us will be a 
national insignia of dishonor. 

The chemical laboratory has exposed 
these commercial harpies, and the hope of 
their continuing these crimes now depends 
upon the power of the lobby they can throw 
into our national and various State legisla- 
tures. In other words, it depends upon 
their power to purchase the votes of dishon- 
est law-makers, which is another crime, and 
for which the common law says they shall be 
deprived of their liberty as common crimi- 
nals. It is in this foul atmosphere and en- 
vironment that these practices are born, live, 
thrive and have their being. 

If there was nothing else to recommend 
the use of suncooked foods, the fact that 
they offer the public protection against the 
most dangerous and soulless class of crimi- 
nals that ever disgraced the flag of any coun- 
try would be quite enough. 



SHALL WE NATIONALIZE THE 
DOCTOR? 

The American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science has appointed a com- 
mittee of one hundred prominent men to 
work for the establishment of a National 
Department of Health in the Federal Grov- 
ernment. On this committee are twenty-five 
doctors and seventy-five eminent men from 
other walks of life. It includes among its 
members many of the best-known leaders of 
thought and action in the country. 

This movement will probably be held up 
for awhile by the immobility of politics. 
Statesmen cannot be expected to concern 
themselves about the health of the people so 
long as the tariff on tooth picks and tripe 
needs their valuable consideration. The 
mere appointment, however, of such a com- 
mittee by the most learned body of men in 
America points to two very portentous 



SHALL WE NATION" ALIZE THE DOCTOR? 351 

things : First, that the most thoughtful men 
in our country deem it necessary that a Fed- 
eral Department of Health be established. 
Second, that such a movement is not to be 
controlled by the medical profession. It is 
eminently proper that our greatest scien- 
tists should participate in this movement, 
for there is no question within the realm of 
government more important, and no ques- 
tion more definitely within the realm of 
science, than that of the health of a nation. 

A Federal Department of Health, prop- 
erly conducted, would frame and pass pure 
food laws that would give protection to the 
public against criminal food manufacturers, 
and see that these laws were enforced ; and, 
having the strength of the nation to draw 
upon, it would cast from our national legis- 
latures the disgraceful lobbyists who were 
so conspicuous in defeating the real protect- 
ing clauses in our present Pure Food Law. 

The administration of the Pure Food 
Law, Meat Inspection and other measures 
appertaining to health, which are now dis- 



352 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

tributed throughout the various bureaus and 
departments of government, would come 
directly under the control of this depart- 
ment. A National Department of Health, 
controlled by scientists and freed from poli- 
tics and the tyranny of medical sects and so- 
cieties, such as now dominate our local 
health boards, would result in branching out 
into every field of investigation and educa- 
tion that promise the promotion of public 
health. 

While I write this, from twenty to thirty 
people are dying suddenly in New York 
every day from excessive heat, while several 
hundred more are being overcome and made 
prostrate. The temperature of the body is 
controlled almost wholly by diet. Foods of 
a certain class well known to the food scien- 
tist, serve only as heat makers in the body, 
while another class equally as well known 
forms tissue. When the sun is giving us our 
heat directly, we are guilty of almost crimi- 
nal ignorance if we take heat-making foods 
into the body in quantities sufficient to en- 



SHALL WE NATIONALIZE THE DOCTOR? 353 

danger our lives. In the face of these obvi- 
ous facts, physicians give much advice, in 
the great daily newspapers, how to avoid 
heat prostrations and sunstrokes with 
scarcely any reference to food. 

From a National Department of Health 
the simple rules of diet controlling bodily 
temperature could be laid out by scientists 
in the form of government bulletins, and a 
copy put into the hands of every person who 
could read at an exceedingly small cost. 
Emanating from such a source of authority, 
this and similar advice would be proudly 
adopted by the people, and would be the 
means of saving thousands of lives and rais- 
ing immeasurably the American standard of 
health and longevity. 

A National Department of Health would 
stimulate national interest in the science of 
human nutrition ; it would show that Ameri- 
can scientists were at least as much inter- 
ested in building people as they are in build- 
ing aeroplanes ; it would eliminate from the 
records of American history the indictment 

23 



354 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

that a great department of government is 
devoted to teaching farmers how to fertilize 
their fallow fields and breed pigs and poul- 
try, while nearly one-third of all American 
babies are doomed to die before they reach 
the age of five. 

Governmental supervision of the public 
health would place at the service of the peo- 
ple a large and well-organized body of the 
world's best scientists, whose sole purpose 
would be to make people more healthy. The 
public health is now under the control of 
private individuals whose prosperity de- 
pends upon exactly the opposite condition. 

Stomach and intestinal disorders are al- 
most universal because no effort has been 
made to teach people the laws of nutrition. 
We approach and solve all of these questions 
by the slow and steady tread of evolution. 
Man must be shocked or knocked into think- 
ing. It is through our instinctive rebellion 
against needless suffering that any progress 
has been made in the science of healing. 

Make the physician a government official 



SHALL WE NATIONALIZE THE DOCTOR? 355 

with no purpose to serve except the common 
cause of the people, and he will ridicule the 
pill box in his public life as every intelligent 
doctor now does behind the scenes, among 
his intimate friends and professional col- 
leagues. A man may lie for profit, but 
rarely for pleasure. 

That a revolution in the teachings and 
practice of things that tend healthward will 
come when the government assumes control 
of the problem is indicated by what hap- 
pened in the field of American agriculture. 
Forty years ago, before the establishment of 
the Department of Agriculture, a man either 
reared his domestic animals and tilled the 
soil in profound ignorance, or, if something 
did go wrong, rushed to the horse doctor, 
who came with a pill case and a drenching 
bottle and put the sick animal through an 
ordeal not unlike that to which we still sub- 
ject human beings. This custom still pre- 
vails in the backwoods communities, but the 
intelligent farmer now reads scientific books 
and government publications that teach him 



356 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

how to breed, feed and shelter his animals so 
as to raise and keep them up to the highest 
standard of development. Doctoring do- 
mestic animals in our best agricultural col- 
leges and among educated farmers is a prac- 
tice comparatively obsolete. The veterina- 
rian of to-day is chiefly an inspector or ex- 
aminer of the soundness of animals, not a 
pill vender, as is the human medicine man. 
The history of old methods of treating dis- 
ease with drugs forms the most interesting 
and eventful chapter in the evolution of civ- 
ilization. The drug theory was handed up 
to us by the skeleton hands of an ancient 
superstition. About 2000 years before 
Christ, disease or any abnormal condition 
of the body was conceived to be the workings 
or manifestations of an evil spirit or devil. 
The principal work of the ancient doctor, 
therefore, was to drive this devil from the 
human domicile. Ancient history and the 
sacred literature of all countries testify to 
this fact. The first means he employed, of 
which there is any record, was ceremony, a 



SHALL WE NATIONALIZE THE DOCTOR'? 357 

weird sort of incantation or coaxing process. 
It took many centuries for the ancient mind 
to discover that this plan was worthless. 

The next method employed by the ancient 
doctor was the noise scheme. This system 
consisted in an effort to oust the evil one 
with hideous and ear-splitting noises. The 
most learned and accomplished physician of 
that day was the one who could invent the 
most infernal combinations of sound. What 
happened to the patient, history does not 
tell, but we suppose their spirits departed 
along with the devil, and the treatment, like 
many great surgical operations of the pres- 
ent day, was pronounced successful. 

A thousand years or so and the noise rem- 
edy was abandoned, not by the noise doctor, 
but by the people who lost faith and forced 
a change. 

Then came the new theory of dislodging 
the devil by putting into the body something 
so filthy, bitter and poisonous that His High- 
ness would have to vacate the premises. 
Both the vegetable and mineral worlds were 



358 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

diligently searched for things that would ac- 
complish this end. The most poisonous 
things that could be conceived were consid- 
ered the best medicines — the best remedies 
for the sick. 

The collector of these poisons was the 
apotheke and the modern druggist is his lin- 
eal descendant, just as the allopathic phy- 
sician of to-day, with his phenacetin and 
acetanilide is the successor of the ancient 
medicine man with his lizards' tongues, 
snakes' brains and polecat's blood. 

To-day the medical profession deny the 
devil theory of disease, but the methods in- 
vented 2000 years ago with which to destroy 
His Satanic Majesty they still practice. 

Those who study history, who go back to 
the beginning of things, will understand how 
an idea, a mere superstition, that has been 
commercialized, could take possession of the 
primitive mind and be handed down through 
generations in almost its primeval crudity. 

This is the true origin and history of the 
practice of medicine. Separated from the 



SHALL WE NATIONALIZE THE DOCTOR *? 359 

homage we are inclined to pay to the one 
who watches at the bedside of our dear ones, 
and the tragedy that sometimes follows, it 
would be a matter of laughter. 

The modern doctor knows something of 
fresh air, exercise, food chemistry and sani- 
tation, but he clings to the ancient drug the- 
ory. Because people have been trained to 
*' take something " for every ill, and the 
doctor lacks the courage to tell them the 
truth, preferring to pursue lines of least 
resistance. 

The wisest, most courageous, and most 
successful doctors to-day are those who pre- 
scribe fresh air, sunshine, exercise, pure 
food, tinted water and bread pills, and 
charge the biggest fees. 

Hippocrates, 400 years B. C, undertook 
to make medicine a science, but failed; yet 
he is called the father of medicine. His true 
greatness consisted in diagnosis rather than 
in treatment. The two greatest books he 
left to the world were ^' Diet in Acute Dis- 
ease,'' and ''Air, Water and Place." It 



360 STJNCOOKED FOOD 

looks, therefore, very mucli as if Dr. Hip- 
pocrates thought much more of diet than he 
did of drugs, and he surely thought more of 
air, water and sunshine (place) than he did 
of the poisons his predecessors had discov- 
ered with which to defeat and dislodge the 
devil. 

In the history of medicine you hear noth- 
ing about Hippocrates' works on diet, air, 
water and sunshine, because there is neither 
mystery nor money in such a theory. 

That the government has established as- 
tronomical observatories and bureaus of re- 
search in cranberry culture and sheep breed- 
ing, and has never before considered a de- 
partment of human health, is due to the fact 
that the idea has prevailed that the health of 
the people was being well cared for by doc- 
tors, and that a National Department of 
Health would be governmental interference 
with private business interest — and so it 
would be. To educate people how to main- 
tain their own health would seriously inter- 
fere with the doctor's business; but why 



SHALL WE NATIONALIZE THE DOCTOK? 361 

should the people not interfere with a busi- 
ness that thrives upon disease instead of 
health — a business that is most prosperous 
when the most people suffer — a business con- 
ducted by private individuals who, if they 
were to keep the people healthy, would im- 
poverish themselves — a business that is sup- 
ported by exactly the opposite conditions 
that all good people desire ? Doctors are but 
human, no better or worse than any other 
large class of American citizens and they 
can no more be expected to spend their lives 
seeking ways to put themselves out of busi- 
ness than stage drivers could be expected to 
'^ whoop it up " for a new line of railroad, 
or cab drivers hurrah for automobiles. 

The present practice of medicine contem- 
plates disease. It waits until disease ap- 
pears — ^waits for the crisis, and then under- 
takes to combat it with drugs. Under the 
wise administration of a National Health 
Department, the object would be to prevent 
disease by removing its causes. Doubtless 
the medical profession will remind the pub- 



362 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

lie of the dangers that lurk in governmental 
control of what is now a private industry. 
Why should the government not control that 
which determines its strength or weakness ? 
Surely all of the people (represented by 
their government) should have a voice in a 
matter that concerns every one's happiness. 
Health and education, physical and mental 
upliftment, go hand in hand; they are the 
things that can be controlled by the people, 
for they appeal to and interest all alike, and 
are too vital to every citizen to permit of in- 
efficiency or graft. Progress in the educa- 
tional world is now measured by the distance 
we have traveled from the fee system — ^the 
system on which the medical profession still 
operates. 

Should we have a National Department of 
Health, the bureau of pure foods should be 
its chief subdivision. This bureau would 
not only forbid the manufacturer from put- 
ting sulphites in his deviled ham, but would 
teach the people by popular publication and 
by co-operation with the public school sys- 



SHALL WE NATIONALIZE THE DOCTOR? 363 

tern, that deviled ham is at best a poor sub- 
stitute for natural food. A National De- 
partment of Health, working in conjunction 
with our public schools, would indeed go to 
the bottom of the health question. 

There is no reward so great, no fame so 
towering, and no chord in human emotions 
so responsive as gratitude for those who lead 
us to the priceless goal of health. Under a 
National Department of Health the doctor, 
as an educator, would have life's greatest re- 
ward and highest inspiration to move him to 
duty. 

When public attention is once turned to- 
ward the possibilities of a National Depart- 
ment of Health, it will become the most pop- 
ular political propaganda of its day. Such 
a movement would meet with no resistance 
except from those who thrive upon the im- 
paired health of the nation. Such a depart- 
ment would promise that which every sin- 
cere citizen most desires. It would become 
the crowning glory of America's public in- 
stitutions. 



364 SUNCOOKED FOOD 

The theory of curing disease with drugs 
is wrong. It is wrong because it is opposite 
to and in violation of every natural law gov- 
erning animal life. The drug theory con- 
sists in giving sick people the things which 
will produce disease in well people. Sick- 
ness is merely an expression or symptom 
given off by the body of some form of con- 
gestion or poisoning. It is utterly absurd to 
think that this condition can be removed or 
cured by introducing into the body any kind 
of drugs, and especially another poison. 
Sickness can only be cured by removing its 
causes — by employing as remedies for sick 
persons those things which preserve health 
in well persons. These are not theories but 
laws — fundamental, infallible, unanswer- 
able. 

The thought forces now arrayed against 
the drugging system are from the thinking 
classes of all nations. The drug cure will 
go — it will perish — it will pass away. Just 
as the incantation cure and the noise cure 
passed, so also the drugging habit will go, 



SHALL WE NATIONALIZE THE DOCTOR? 365 

and the future mind will place them all in 
the same group — ^weigh them all on the 
same scale; and as the shuttle of history 
moves back and forth it will weave all these 
superstitions into the fabric of civilization 
as the darkest shades upon her endless roll. 



3 19G9 



innpy npi to cat. oiv. 

NOV 26 1909 



